


All I Need To Find is the Life I Left Behind

by QueenieRose53001



Series: all that i have, all that i need [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Developing Relationship, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fix-It, Force-Sensitive Finn, Han Solo Lives, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Related, Multi, Mutual Pining, Not Canon Compliant - Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Polyamory, Redeemed Ben Solo, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey Skywalker, Rey isn't Rey's real name, Rogue One As History, Skywalker Family Drama, Trans Luke, everyone is queer because why not, i'm ignoring that the new canon is ignoring Lando so I gave him a life, rey has too many names
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2018-12-08 03:09:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 41,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11637678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenieRose53001/pseuds/QueenieRose53001
Summary: “You are the descendant of slaves and queens, senators and soldiers and generals. You are related to too many pilots, too many desert children, too many mechanics. You are the child of teachers and explorers and men who try too hard to be good.”A Sequel Trilogy AU where when family extends a hand, Ben comes home.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Home by Paradise Fears

The oscillator was hollow, the open air swirling around the empty space, moving the cloak that was draped over Kylo Ren's shoulders. The sun was fading, the super weapon almost finished charging, eating and destroying an entire star. He knew his mother was on the planet they were aiming for. His grip in the Force showed him two life forms, the ones he would recognize any ways. 

The light streamed in from the doorway above his father and godfather, and Kylo saw the two forms appear. He focused on them, even though he knew who they were. The scavenger girl who had escaped him, proved herself stronger than him, and the traitor.

The scavenger had a leather jacket slung over her thin shoulders, and he recognized it as the one the stormtrooper had worn on Takodana. He must have given it to her to keep the cold snow from reaching her skin. Poe Dameron had worn that the last time Kylo had seen him. He had forced his way into the older man's mind then, ripping secrets from behind Dameron's guards. Kylo could feel Dameron's pain even now. 

His father noticed him, and made his way to the catwalk over the abyss. There were no guardrails, Kylo realized, and the metal was barely wide enough for one human to pass. They would meet in the middle. 

"Ben!"

The voice echoed with the dust and the snow blown in from outside. The cold shouldn't have permeated his clothes, but Kylo shivered. Then he realized the real reason for the tremble. It was the name his father called him, the pain and anguish in his voice. His father was the stoic one, but what had this done to his mother? His grip on the Force wavered, blinking black and white before settling grey. He pulled it darker before speaking.

"Han Solo. I've been waiting for this day for a long time." The mask altered his voice, in some skewed attempt to be like his grandfather. His father winced.

"Take off that mask. You don't need it." His father's voice was something he hadn't heard in a long time. Kylo should have listened, but instead he kept pushing. 

"What do you think you'll see if I do?" 

His father winced again. "The face of my son."

Kylo Ren hadn't been his father's son in a long time. He pushed farther to the Dark, hoping it would give him the strength to deny his family. He reached up with black gloved hands and unlatched his helmet. He let it fall to the catwalk, black and silver clattering metallic against the ground. He knew he bore more resemblance to his father than his mother, and some part of him wanted his father to see his own face. 

"Your son is gone." Kylo lied. "He was weak and foolish like his father."

It was a low blow, and both men knew it. But his father continued forward. 

"That's what Snoke wants you to believe," His father's eyes began to water, and he blinked it back. "But it's not true. My son is alive."

Kylo shook his head, the dark curls brushing against his skin. "No. The Supreme Leader is wise."

Han laughed then, something bit back and dark. "Ben, you know Snoke is using you for your power. When he gets what he wants, he'll crush you. You know it's true."

Kylo shut his eyes, the name his father using for him becoming so overwhelming. The Light wrenched the Dark's grasp on him, bringing him into the Light for a single moment, before plunging him into darkness. "It's too late for me."

"No." His father said, straightening his shoulders. "It's not. Leave here with me. Come home. I miss you. Your mother misses you. We all miss you." This simple statement felt like a weight lifted off of his shoulders, the darkness of the oscillator becoming lighter, even though the light of the sun was almost gone.

Kylo took a deep breath and drew his lightsaber, although he didn't turn it on. It took several moments of silence to find the courage to look his father in the eye. "I'm being torn apart. I want to be free of this pain. I know what I have to do but I don't know if I have the strength to do it. Will you help me?"

"Yes. Anything."

Kylo felt his heart breaking, just a little bit. His father, after all the crimes he committed and all of the pain he caused his family, was still willing to go to the ends of the galaxy for him. He took a deep breath. His father had placed a hand over the one that held his lightsaber. He looked up at the two watching, how easily the turncoat was able to change. He had been raised since birth to become a cog in a murdering regime, mindless killers, but some how he was able to change, to redeem himself.

Kylo looked to the other figure, leaning in on the turncoat for support. How easily had the scavenger, despite her harsh life in the deserts, learn to care? He had doomed her to that life. He knew her name and her secrets. It was his fault she was abandoned, given the false hope that her family would come and sweep her off of Jakku. This was his fault. He looked back to his father. 

"I'm sorry. For everything."

Han blinked. When Leia had told him to bring their son home, he wasn't sure how. After fourteen years, he had imagined how his family would reunite many times. But this was not one of the ways it had played out. Standing over a bottomless abyss of a weapon of mass destruction, his son's light saber in his hand, his son telling him that he was sorry. 

"I forgive you." Han said, with no hesitation. Ben cringed inwardly, before straightening and wrenching his hand from his light saber, leaving it in Han's hand. 

Ben gathered the discarded helmet and removed the cape from around his shoulders. Suddenly the chill of the arctic air penetrated through the rest of Ben's clothes. He knew that the Knights of Ren were obligated to have tracking devices in their clothing, but as Snoke's favorite, he was only required to have it in a few articles. Ben found that when he tried to ask his father for help, there was a lump in his throat that blocked any words from passing. 

"I can't touch it." Ben managed to say, gesturing to the weapon in his father's hand. "We, I, I need to destroy it. And these. Together."

Han looked at his son, saw parts of his own face looking back, and nodded. "We do it together. And then we leave so the air support can take out the oscillator. Okay?"

Ben nodded, not looking him in the eye. "Together."

Han turned to look over the abyss. Smoke curled hundreds of feet below them, and Han had a sudden image of himself falling. "On three."

"One."

Ben braced himself. There was no going back. But if he had followed Snoke's orders, there would be no turning back either. 

"Two."

He balled up the cloak in his hands. The fabric was light, more for aesthetic than for warmth. How did he even survive the cold of this planet?

"Three."

The cloak, helmet and light saber fell, and Ben watched them fall until he could not discern them any longer. Then he turned back to his father, who was beginning to make his way to solid ground, where his godfather awaited them. Ben hesitated, and then followed. 

* * *

 

The three rushed out of the building, Ben avoiding Chewie and his father. They scrambled to get a safe distance away from the building before Chewie pressed the detonator. Orange flame erupted, lighting up the bellies of the X-wings and the TIE fighters dog-fighting up above. Once the flames of the explosion died down, there was a hole large enough for three X-wings to fly through. 

One X-wing did. Black One, the X-wing assigned to Poe Dameron, entered and destroyed it, flying out again, his skill as a pilot and navigator shining. Chewie, Han, and Ben stood in the snow and watched for several moments before the ground began to rumble beneath them. The Falcon was parked in the woods about half a kilometer away, and the three ran the distance as fast as they could. 

The turncoat and the scavenger were there before the others, darting up the ramp to get in the ship. Chewie was next to follow, and then Han. Ben hesitated, freezing up in the clearing, the ground shaking under his feet. "Come on, Ben! I don't want to leave you here!" Han yelled from the ramp.

Ben thought for a split second, and then followed his father on board. The ramp closed, and the Millennium Falcon took off, leaving behind Kylo Ren.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben reunites with family. General Organa decides what to do with the four of them.

The General was waiting when the Millennium Falcon touched down on D’Qar. 

She was a sight that set fear or awe or both into many a heart. The return from Starkiller was underway, soldiers and pilots and mechanics alike scrambling around on the tarmac behind her. But she stood still.

Rey sat behind Han Solo, a man who was all too familiar but she couldn't place where she knew him from. Finn was in the seat across from her, behind Chewbacca. He could not see the General, but she could see her. Ben stood at the back of the cockpit. Rey could not comprehend that this man, the one who ripped through her mind, killed planets, almost killed his father, killed the students at the Academy, was the son of the war heros who brought down the Empire. He had avoided them in hyperspace, but now they all had to leave the ship and there was no avoiding his parents. 

“Can she see us?” Finn spoke up, as if he could sense how tense the cockpit was becoming and wanted to break it. “It feels like she’s staring right at me.”

Han chuckled. “She’s like that.”

Chewbacca spoke up, the growls lost on Finn. He was the only one who couldn’t understand the Wookie. Rey nodded and stood, followed by Han and Chewie, and Ben ducked out of the room.

Finn stood, moving to follow them. “What did he say?” 

“We can’t stay on board forever,” Han repeated. “We’re going to help the Resistance.”

The ramp lowered. Han walked down it, Ben by his side, one hand in the hollow between Ben’s shoulder blades. Ben leaned into the touch, only a little bit, but in the same breath he was shying away from it. 

Finn and Rey heard the General’s shaky inhale. They saw her stand up on her toes, reach out to touch her son’s face. They heard her voice, so tired of putting up the front, didn’t anyone know what she had lost, wobble. “Oh, Ben. I always believed you would come home.”

The General let down the front. 

It wasn’t the kind of crying that Rey had seen in the few holofilms she had ever watched. That was meant to be pretty, for the camera, for the audience. This was real. 

Rey glanced at Ben, Kylo, whoever he was, and had to look again. He was crying too, sniveling as tears traced around his nose like droplets of water condensing on a canteen. His mother had her hand on his cheek, and he leaned into the touch. Vulnerable. 

“It’s good to see you, Mom.” He choked. He looked so familiar, and so foreign. This was not the man who interrogated her, but it was. Leia pulled him to her, even though he was so much taller, and he tried to shy away. But once his mother had embraced him, his father wrapped his long arms around the two of them. 

Rey decided that she had had enough of watching the Organa family reunion, and pulled Finn away. “Where’s your pilot?” She asked, gesturing to the leather jacket that was still slung around her shoulders. Finn perked up, and began to run down the tarmac. 

Rey followed Finn, dodging pilots and personnel aiding the evacuation, until they ran into a Dandoran pilot removing her helmet. Her dark hair cascaded out and down her back. 

“Finn!” She greeted. “And you must be Rey! Man, Finn has told me a lot about you.”

Rey blinked. 

The pilot blushed. “Oh, sorry. I’m Jessika Pava. I’m in Poe Dameron’s squadron. Right hand man and all.” 

Finn drew his eyebrows together, but shrugged. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Jessika.” Rey said. “Do you know where we can find Poe Dameron?”

Jessika straightened. “Yeah, of course. He’s two ships down. Fidgeting with his controls, or so he says.”

Finn smiled, white teeth contrasting with his dark skin. “Thanks, Jess. We’ll see you in debrief.”

Jess smiled, waving as the two ran off again. 

Poe was beginning to climb out of his X-Wing when Finn and Rey arrived. He hopped off the ladder and embraced Finn. “Buddy, it’s good to see you. Glad you made it out of there.” He said into the crook of Finn’s neck.  

Rey liked orange. Orange was her favorite color. Flight suit orange, to be specific. But on most people, the flight suits were harsh and too bright. But on Poe Dameron, it suited him and his olive skin and his dark, curly hair. Poe looked up and let go of Finn. “You must be Rey. You found my droid. Thank you.”

He went to hug her, and Rey hugged him, because this was the man who inadvertently gotten her off of Jakku. Rey liked hugs, even if most other human contact caused adverse reactions. First it had been Finn, now Poe. 

Poe felt the leather under his hands as he hugged her. It was so familiar, from when he hugged Finn less than twenty four hours ago. It was his jacket. He laughed and let go of her, turning to face both her and Finn.

“I’m glad you both got out of there okay,” Poe said. “BB-8 and Finn have told me a lot about you.”

Rey didn’t know what to say. “I hope it was good things that they said.”

Poe nodded. He saw something over Finn’s shoulder, squinting to make sure what he saw was real. “Who’s that with General Organa?”

Rey winced, and Finn shuddered. Poe’s jaw dropped, causing a little pain at his temple. “They brought him to base? What were they thinking?”

“He threw his lightsaber and his helmet into the oscillator. I think he’s trying to come back to the light.” Rey said, shrugging. “I don’t agree with it.”

“I knew him when he was a kid. General Organa and her family used to babysit me when my father was out on shipping runs. He’d be gone for months at a time. My mamá passed when I was young. The General and her brother were friends with her and my father. It hurt, when he turned, and on the Finalizer, knowing that someone who was essentially my little brother was the one torturing me.” Poe said, realizing too late he had revealed too much information. He had always tried to keep the past from bothering him, and to do that, he put up the flyboy persona. But he had just stripped that away.

General Organa finally had let go of her son and husband. She was making her way back to the base, to begin the debriefing. Han was following her, and Ben trailed along as well. The General noticed the three standing at Poe’s X-Wing, BB-8 rolling around their feet, and stopped. 

Poe broke into salute. Rey and Finn copied him. The General shook her head with a sad smile. “At ease,” She said, and the three relaxed. “Dameron, are you alright?”

“Yes, General.”

The General shut her eyes, the tear tracks still relevant on her face. “You don’t need to call me that, Poe. None of you do.” She looked at Rey when she said the last sentence. Rey could swear she knew her from somewhere, like she knew Han, but she couldn’t place it and it annoyed her.

“Leia. Why is he here?” Poe asked, addressing the elephant in the room. Leia sighed, looking like she was going to cry again. 

“I asked my husband to bring our son home if he saw him, Poe. I didn’t think he would come home. I didn’t think it would work. Please, Poe. I know what he did to you, to all of you. You don’t have to forgive him.”

Poe nodded. Rey and Finn shared a glance. 

“Now, we should head to debrief.” Leia said, straightening her shoulders and putting up the front again. 

“Umm, Leia?” Rey asked, uncomfortable with calling the General by her first name, “Are we going to say that we brought Kylo Ren to the base or?”

Leia froze. Clearly she hadn’t thought of that. “You do have a point, Rey.” She glanced to her husband and her son before turning back to the three. “Not a lot of people know that Ben became Kylo Ren. I say that I lost my son during the attack on the Academy.”

“We could say we rescued two prisoners from Starkiller.” Poe finished her thought. Leia nodded. 

“I agree. We will try to keep Kylo Ren and Ben Organa Solo separate. Alright?” She turned to her husband and son as she asked. They both nodded. “Let’s get to the debrief. I’m sure this will take a while.”

* * *

 

The debrief room was empty, save the General, her family, Poe, Rey and Finn. BB-8 came wheeling in, followed by an old R2 unit and a golden protocol droid. 

“General. Excuse me, General. R2 may contain some much-needed good news.” The protocol droid said, waving his arms around excitedly. 

Leia tilted her head. “Tell me, C3PO.” Instead of answering, the R2 unit projected a star map, complete except one piece, into the room. Leia sucked in a breath. Poe realized the missing chunk was in the table projector, and grabbed it. 

BB-8 wheeled up to him, and Poe knelt and gave it to his droid. “Yeah. All right, buddy. Hold on.” He placed it in BB’s projector and suddenly the map was complete, tracing a path to an abandoned planet labeled Ahch-To. 

“The map, it’s complete!” C3PO gasped, stating the obvious. 

“Luke,” Leia said, the longing and sorrow filling her voice. C3PO bent over to the R2 unit. 

“Oh, my dear friend…. How I’ve missed you.”

Leia pulled herself together. It had been a long day. “We have two priorities. One is to send a ship to my brother, and the other is to evacuate the planet.”

Finn spoke up. “Who’s going to go find Skywalker?”

Leia smiled at him. “I am staying here, to aid with the evacuation. I would like to send the four of you, Poe, Rey, Finn, and Ben, to go retrieve my brother.”

Rey, Finn and Poe all turned to look at Ben, who was hidden in the shadows at the edge of the room. This was going to be interesting.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe realizes that he has become the mom friend, Ben is still avoiding everyone, and Rey and Finn are beginning to adjust to normal(ish) life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!  
> So I just started school, and updates are going to become a little slower. Though, I do have an idea for a series of one shots in this universe, focused on Rey while she is living on Jakku. I'm totally ready for The Last Jedi to smash that, but I'll hang on to my own headcanons until then.  
> Enjoy!

After the General had told him that he would be flying the Falcon (the Millenium Falcon! The General trusted him with her husband’s ship! This had to be a dream!) to bring home her brother, Poe Dameron found he had two shadows. 

Finn, he knew. Finn was the one who rescued him, who decided without a doubt that he would return to his abusers to rescue a girl he barely knew. 

Then there was Rey. She was uncomfortable, froze up in the presence of more than a few people at a time. She seemed lost. Poe thought he recognized something about her, the shape of her eyes, the tilt of her head as she examined a problem. 

The Resistance was packing up the base to move to a new planet. It was tradition for Black Squadron to bet on what kind of planet they would move to next. Jess had bets that it would be swampland. Snap had money on mountains. Poe himself had bet on it being rainforest. It was probably just his subconscious being homesick for Yavin IV. 

He would find out who won when he came back with Luke. But before he left with Rey, Finn, and Ben, Poe Dameron had to help them register themselves in the Resistance files. 

Ben was easy, to say the least. He wrote down “Ben Solo” in the first and last name lines on the datapad he was given. He wrote down his date of birth and the results of his medicals. He didn’t say a word to anyone at the databank, ignoring the obvious stares. When he was done filling out the mandatory forms, he stormed out of the room like a caged animal set free. 

Rey fumbled with the stylus as she wrote her first name. She noticed Finn looking around Poe at her with something like pity. “I’m out of practice. I was taught, a long time ago.”

“We weren’t doubting you, Rey.” Poe said from the chair in between them. “But both of you have a problem. Neither of you have a last name that you can remember.”

Rey paused, as if she was trying to remember a face. “This sounds silly, but I used to dream of a woman who called herself my great grandmother.”

Poe smiled. “Do you remember her last name?”

Rey thought, screwing up her face in concentration. “No. She never told me her last name. She could barely tell me her first name. She called herself Ess. I’m not using that as my last name.”

Poe took a deep drink from his water skin, suddenly feeling very sorry for the girl next to him. Finn spoke up from where he was writing his name with square, perfect penmanship. “Poe, since you gave me my name, can I take your last name?”

It was very hard for Poe not to spray water across the databank. His face flushed bright red.  “Finn, buddy, usually when people take someone else’s last name, it means, it means that they’re getting married.” Poe took a breath, cleared the water from his throat before continuing. “I’ve only known you for a couple days. I’ll have to take a rain check on the marriage proposal.”

Finn blinked. “I wasn’t, I, I wasn’t trying to propose to you. I just didn’t have a last name, and since-”

Poe shushed him gently. “I get it, buddy. I was just joking.” 

Finn looked at him with such confusion in his eyes that Poe immediately felt sad. “You can if you want.”

Poe thought of his father, retired back on Yavin IV. What would he think of these two, a soldier and a scavenger, claiming the family name as their own? 

Kes would love them, as if Finn and Rey were his own children. Poe imagined them at his childhood home, tending to the gardens and working around the house. The fantasy, if Poe could really call this a fantasy, grew more and more detailed, and Poe shook his head to clear it from his mind’s eye. 

“Poe Dameron, are you in there?” Finn asked. Rey and Finn were both leaning in front of him, concerned looks on their faces.

“Yeah, I’m here. Sorry, I just zoned out a little bit.” Poe said. It wasn’t a lie, really. He was zoning out imagining these two young people living with him and his dad. Not creepy at all. 

“Unless you guys are hellbent on taking my last name,” Poe said, “I have some other ideas for you. A couple years before I was born, there was a group of soldiers recruited by the Alliance to Restore the Republic. They were the ones to transmit the first Death Star plans to General Organa. They called themselves Rogue One. One of the members was a defector from the Imperial Military. His name was Bodhi Rook. Another of the members was a child forced away from her family by Imperial forces. She did what she had to do to survive. Her name was Jyn Erso. I’m offering for you to take their names. Rey Erso, and Finn Rook.”

Rey and Finn shared a look. “I don’t know about Rey, but I do like Finn Rook.” Finn bent down over his datapad and wrote Rook down with patient, neat lettering. Rey thought for a moment longer. 

“Can we change the name? If I find my family?” Rey asked. Poe nodded.

“Of course we can change it.” At Poe’s word, Rey wrote down Erso in the blank that asked for her last name. With the attachment of the medical files, they were both done.

The two stood and gave their datapads to the technician behind the desk. She filed them away as Rey and Finn came back to Poe.

“Now what do we need to do before we leave?” Rey asked. Her accent was interesting, to say the least. None of the other residents of Jakku spoke quite like Rey. If he had to name a planet, it had to be Corellian, upper level. But what would a Corellian girl be doing abandoned on an Outer Rim planet? 

Poe’s stomach growled. “We need to get some food. Follow me.”

The hallways were full of people, and Poe knew that made Rey uncomfortable, so he tried to make sure he was going as fast as possible so they didn’t have to be in the crowds for so long. People recognized Poe, and some recognized Finn, but none of them knew Rey. But they still crowded around them, and congratulated them for the victory on Starkiller, for resisting the First Order’s brainwashing, for surviving a lightsaber fight with Kylo Ren. Poe could feel Rey shrinking in on herself, and he put an arm around her shoulder. 

They reached the mess hall, which was only just starting to fill for noon meal. The smell was enough to draw an audible rumble from Rey’s stomach. Poe turned, and only just noticed how thin she was, years of malnourishment and dehydration shaping her body. 

Poe grabbed a tray and filled it up with steaming food. The fresh bread was enticing, and before he put it on his tray, he bit off a chunk. Rey, who was standing with Finn at the door, gasped. She came to Poe’s side. 

“You have to pay for that,” She said, clearly disturbed by Poe eating his food. Poe raised his eyebrow, mouth still full of bread. 

“Not here.” Poe said, words muffled by the food. He swallowed loudly. “The Resistance supplies food for all personnel. Of course, there are rotations of kitchen duty, but the food’s free.”

Rey stared at Poe, eyes darting between him and the food. Then suddenly, she darted out and grabbed a tray, quickly grabbing as much food as she could before finding a corner to eat in. Finn grabbed a tray with basic essentials and followed Rey and Poe to where they sat. Rey had put herself in one of the corners of the booth. Finn had taken the other corner, and Poe sat next to Finn, on the outside. The booth was already cramped, but Finn and Poe were pressed up together. 

Rey had dug in already, stuffing her face with all sorts of foods, finishing as quickly as she could. “Rey, Rey, slow down.” Poe advised. “You’re gonna get sick.” 

Rey looked up, and all Poe thought was feral. This was a borderline feral girl left on her own in the harshest world imaginable. Of course she didn’t know that eating fast would make her sick, or that the food here didn’t require her to scavenge destroyed Imperial ships for parts with any value. Finn was probably raised on only the most basic rations, given by the food he had selected. He was eating mechanically, as if efficiency was the only thing that mattered to him.

Rey shoved another bite into her mouth. It was a piece of squash that grew on Yavin IV, known for being sour and bitter at the same time, but it was a flavor that Poe loved, since it came from home. Rey’s face crinkled, and Poe expected Rey to spit it out, but she kept eating, shoveling food in her mouth. 

Poe couldn’t believe that the galaxy could be so cruel for these two people he had just met. Rey, abandoned, feral. Finn, brainwashed, mindless. But here they were, brought together by something that Poe couldn’t name. 

“What is this?” Rey asked after swallowing some more of the squash. Finn shrugged, with another mechanical bite of a ration bar. Poe found an opportunity to tell the two about the world he’d grown up on.  

“It’s sour squash,” Poe said, “It grows on my homeworld.” But then Poe realized his mistake. Neither of them had a homeworld that they knew of. Rey had been abandoned. Finn was kidnapped and brainwashed. 

Rey tilted her head, her curiosity not distracting her from her food yet. “Why did you get so sad suddenly?” Finn turned to look at Poe. He was just as curious as the younger girl. 

Poe suddenly felt himself lose his cool. Why were these two people flustering him? They were basically kids, Finn had said that he was twenty three standard years old, nine years younger than himself. And Rey was even younger than Finn. 

“I’m sorry. I thought the idea of a homeworld would upset the both of you.” Poe admitted, looking down at his half finished plate. “I know you were raised with the First Order, and you don’t remember yours.” 

Rey shook her head. “I don’t have a homeworld, Poe, I’ve accepted that. It wouldn’t surprise me if I was born on Jakku. Ess said that for generations, my family has lived in a desert world.”

Finn nodded. “I was so focused on running from the First Order, I didn’t even realize I didn’t have a home. It doesn’t upset me, Poe.”

Poe smiled at his new friends. “Thank you. Both. Now, I’m pretty certain we have a week-long hyperspace flight ahead of us. We should get ready.”

  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They find Luke.

 

It was very helpful to be able to understand a Wookie when on board the Millennium Falcon. But this flight would have neither the captain or first mate. It was just going to be the four of them, Ben, Rey, Finn and Poe. Han was staying with his wife, getting caught up with lost time. And Chewie was staying with Han. No bargaining there. But he was waiting on the tarmac as the four loaded up the ship. The General and Han were there as well. 

Chewie yelled instructions at Poe, who was going to act as the stand in captain. Ben was stand in copilot, Rey was mechanic, and Finn was gunner, but they were all going to rotate shifts piloting. This was the largest crew on board the Falcon in all the years Han had owned her. 

When they were ready to take off, Rey stood outside of the ship. This ship had taken her off of Jakku. This ship meant something, like the fighter pilot doll back in the AT-AT she had abandoned, like the dreams with Ess and Naberrie.

The General took several steps towards her. “May the Force be with you, Rey.” And then Leia took her in her arms. Rey hugged her back like a daughter hugs her mother. 

“May the Force be with you, General.”

Leia smiled, less sad now. “Now. Go bring my brother home.”

Rey nodded, adjusted the pack on her back that held the lightsaber. She allowed herself one more look at the General and her husband before boarding the Falcon. Rey sat down behind Poe as the Falcon took off, watching the base get smaller and smaller until it disappeared.

Rey scrambled out of the cockpit with Finn when the artificial gravity was flipped on, leaving Poe with Ben. It probably wasn’t a good idea, but Rey wanted to call a living quarters before anyone else. Change of plans when Finn grabbed the sleeve of her jacket.

“What do you think about Ben?” Finn said, pulling her into a side corridor away from the cockpit. “I really don’t think that he’s telling the truth about the Light side.” 

Rey grimaced. “I don’t think he’s telling the truth either, but he doesn’t have any weapons. You have a blaster, Poe has a blaster, and I have Luke’s lightsaber and my staff. I think we’ll be fine if he turns again.” 

Finn shrugged. “I guess so. I’m going to set up my stuff in a room. See you in a bit.”

Rey waved him off and ducked into the first set of crew quarters she could find. It was bigger than the AT-AT she used to live in. The past tense scared her and excited her all at once. She was off of Jakku. She was on her way to becoming a Jedi. 

This was exciting. 

Over the next few days, the makeshift crew did their best to avoid Ben. Poe wouldn’t talk to him when they took shifts to pilot together. Rey would leave the room if Ben came in. And Finn wasn’t subtle at all. Finn glared, especially when they were stuck together piloting.

Then Ben snapped. He switched on autopilot, and then called them into one room. “I know I’ve done awful things to you. All of you. I’m sorry. I’m trying to make it up to you. But please, stop acting like I don’t exist. Once we get back from this planet, then you can denounce me. But until then, please.”

Poe was the first one to respond. “Ben. I know it’s you, but I’m trying to forget what happened on Jakku. That was you too. I know you were under the influence of the Dark, but it was still you. I’m trying, Ben.”

Ben looked down at his feet. 

Then Finn spoke up. “You were the one that enabled the First Order, who used kidnapped children as soldiers. I can’t forgive that. You hurt my friends. I can’t forgive that either. But I’m trying.”

Rey spoke up once Finn had finished, not giving Ben a second to let it sink in. “I am angry. You drove me from a place I almost considered home. You hurt people I care about. I don’t know if I can forgive you.”

Ben nodded. “I know.” Ben looked at his feet, avoiding making eye contact with any of them. He then fled the room. Rey, Poe and Finn shared looks, and then moved back to what they were doing. 

Two days later, easier days, Poe found himself trying to make small talk with ben when they jolted out of hyperspace. The planet, Ach-To, was cloudy and blue, with spots of brown, islands rising above the sea. 

The Millennium Falcon landed at the largest island. “Assuming that this is the island that he’s on,” Poe said, parking the ship, Ben at his side. “Oh no. What if we have to look over every island on this damn planet?” Ben chuckled, quiet. Poe shrugged. “It won’t matter. It’ll keep us out of combat.”

In the main hold, Rey slung her staff over one shoulder and the pack with Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber over the other. The Resistance had given them all new clothes, so they were all dressed in neutral colors, Rey in her preferred greens, Finn in dark browns and greys, Ben in tan, sandy colors, and Poe in slate blue. Rey had returned the jacket to Finn, and Poe had a sneaking suspicion that he was never going to get his jacket back.

Finn adjusted his blaster in the sheath on his belt. This was strange. It had only been a week since he had defected, and the Resistance had sent him off on another mission. Shouldn’t there have been reconditioning? Or training? Finn didn’t know. But the Resistance had sent him off as soon as he had arrived. But now wasn’t the time to reflect on that. They had to get going if they wanted to find Skywalker.

BB-8 spun circles around Poe’s legs, chattering to him in Binary as Poe packed his day bag. “BeeBee, there are stairs. You sure you want to come?” The droid beeped at him again, and Poe sighed. “I’ll go get the harness. You stay here, buddy.” 

The little droid wheeled themself into the harness, and Poe made sure that all of the straps were fastened securely. He hoisted the droid onto his back and made his way to the main hold. What a look Poe had going on, dark circles sinking into his eyes as a result of a week of nightmares, and a custom fugitive droid on his back. Ben gave him a look, and Poe gave him a toothy grin. “They wanted to come.”

The four exited the Falcon, leaving her alone at the base of a very large rise. It was coated in green grass, and Rey took a moment to observe. There was some crumpled wreckage about half a kilometer away from where they had landed. She would investigate it later. She did need to find some way to pay the Resistance back for the clothes, food and shelter. 

They began to climb. Simple stone steps jutted out from the hill. The climb was steep, and the silence was too heavy for any one of them to break it. Ben strayed towards the back. No one really wanted to tell him to keep up, so they didn’t. 

Pulling the staff off of her shoulder, Rey climbed farther ahead than the others. She rubbed at the back of her neck as the sun climbed higher and higher in the atmosphere. Rey had begun to use her staff as a walking stick. 

About halfway up the rise was an abandoned village, all stone huts and cobbled streets. Finn, Poe and BB-8 poked around for a minute, as Rey and Ben, somehow, simply knew there was no one there. They continued to climb. 

Rey was the first one to reach the top. It was rounded, like some sort of crater had formed here, but the grass and wildlife had taken over, sweeping through with green. So much green in the galaxy. There was a figure standing on the other end. When she froze, Finn, Ben, and Poe almost crashed into her.

Rey stood, watching the man standing at the cliff. The rock formation slightly behind him looked like a desert headstone, she noticed, but it wasn’t important right now. This was Luke Skywalker. The salt air blew through her hair, still tied in the three buns. It was too cold here. 

The man turned. Rey took a couple steps forward, trying to get a better view of the man under the hood, the legends that she was raised on. Poe and Ben stayed where they were. Finn took a step after Rey, but stopped. 

Luke Skywalker reached up and removed the hood of his cloak, one hand just a metal frame. It creaked and scraped against itself, the parts old and unmaintained. Rey felt her eyes watering for a reason she couldn’t explain. Luke stared at her as she put away her staff. She reached down into her pack and pulled out the lightsaber, not breaking eye contact. 

She held out the lightsaber, stretching her arm out as far as she could. His mouth fell open a little, as if he had found something he had lost a long time before. Rey stretched her arm farther, feeling like she was going to cry, like in the dreams with Ess and Naberrie, but this was real. 

Luke opened his mouth to speak but there was silence. They stood there, with Poe and Finn and Ben watching, in quiet. Rey’s arm was beginning to strain. Luke clearly recognized the object as Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber, reaching out with both hands for it. The two hands, metal and blood, trembled.

Rey swallowed hard and took several steps forward, not daring to look away. It was the bravest thing she had ever done. He stood there, hands shaking. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her. She began to lower the lightsaber into his hands.

And then he spoke. “It called to you, keep it.” His voice was hoarse, obviously from disuse. Luke took a step away from Rey, finally looking at her with a mask of confusion. “Who are you?”

It took Rey a second to answer. She inhaled, remembering the name she had taken. “Rey Erso. My name is Rey Erso.”

Luke seemed to deflate, slightly. But then he saw the dark figure standing with Finn and Poe. Luke’s hand immediately went to his waist, looking for a weapon that wasn’t there. His posture turned defensive, eyes went to steel. Rey shrunk into herself.

“Kylo Ren.” Luke said. “Why did you bring him with you.” It was not a question, but a statement. Ben looked at his feet. 

“Uncle,” Ben started. Finn and Poe moved away from him, leaving him in the scrutiny of his family. “Uncle, I am trying to redeem myself. Snoke made an ultimatum that I could not follow. He wanted me to kill Father. I couldn’t.”

“But you could kill your little cousin?” Luke asked, snarling. Ben choked, a noise that sounded like a sob. The others swung their heads to look at Ben. To their surprise, he had started to cry. 

“I didn’t kill her, Uncle.” Ben said. “I didn’t kill Paddie. I tried to make sure she was safe.”

“But you had your posse kill her.”

“They didn’t kill her!” Ben looked up, fury in his eyes, and Rey put the hand that wasn’t holding the lightsaber on her staff. “She’s alive! She’s here right now!”

Three heads, four counting BB-8, swiveled to face Rey. Luke stared. 

“You bring a girl who could have been my daughter and expected me to buy it? Redeem yourself.” Luke scoffed. Luke took several more steps towards Ben, Rey scurrying out of his way. No one was really expecting what came next. Luke wound up and punched Ben in the face, with the metal fist. 

Rey cried out, startled. Ben didn’t make a noise, drawing his hand away from his face and eyes widening at the sight of blood. 

“Uncle, I can prove it’s her.” Ben said, blood dripping from the cut on his brow bone down his face. “Please.” 

“You may, Ren. But if anything happens to this girl, there will be hell to pay.” Luke said, eyes electric in anger. Ben nodded, knowing better than to argue. Rey, Finn and Poe were still standing frozen. This myth, blurry figure from the past, they never thought he would be this close to the Dark, or what they knew of it. 

Ben wiped the blood out of his left eye, hissing when he touched the raw flesh. He went over to Rey, who shrank into herself. 

“I’m not going to hurt you again, Rey.” He said. Ben waved a hand near her temple. Like the gesture he made when he kidnapped her on Takodana. Too late. 

The world spun around her. Rey tried to call out for Finn and Poe, but her voice wasn’t cooperating. She fell. 

Her eyes were having trouble focusing. She saw Ben run away, heard multiple voices yelling her name. But by the time anyone was by her side, the world went black. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I now have a posting schedule! This will be updated every Sunday evening, and the companion piece will be updated every Sunday evening. Hope you enjoyed!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Force works in mysterious ways. It's time to unveil its motives.

Rey woke up in a city. The towers and buildings stretched high above her head, all beige and green, covered in flowers and domed roofs. She stood up from the pavement and jumped when she saw a small family walking towards her. A blond man holding a tiny baby, and holding the hand of another man. They were walking towards a shuttle, like the one that had left her behind on Jakku. She tried to catch their attention, but she realized she was meant to be observing here. 

The blond man looked at the other man with hearts in his bright blue eyes. “We have a daughter, Wedge. I didn’t think that I’d be this happy with having a baby.” The dark haired man’s name was Wedge, Rey realized. They were the fathers of this little child.

“I know, love.” Wedge smiled. “Now, you need to get back to the Academy. Your students have been waiting long enough.”

The scene bled into another, not unlike the Force vision she had when touching Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber. She was watching a bunch of children sitting in a field. The blond man was with them. All sitting cross legged, and one of the children holding a baby. “Breathe. Just breathe. Now, tell me what you see.” The blond man said, confident in a soothing way. He must of been a teacher, of a sort. 

The girl who was holding the baby, a Twi'lek with blue skin, answered him, her eyes shut tight, concentrating. “The light.” 

“The dark.”

“The balance.”

The blond man smiled at her. “Good job, Iatuos.”

The scene changed again. Now she was with many other children, all of which were younger than she was now, standing in front of them. They were in a large building, the wooden support beams new and the floors clean. The blond man was there again, with a toddler on his hip. The other children held wooden swords, clearly made to resemble lightsabers, practicing forms. In the front row, there was an older boy, with long, dark hair and a hooked nose. Rey recognized him immediately.

It was a young Ben Solo. 

The man set down the toddler and dismissed the class. The room emptied. Ben stayed behind, and the little girl, two braids in her dark hair, ran to him. 

“Benny!” She said, running into his arms, the practice lightsaber clattering to the ground. 

“Hey, Paddie.” he said, “Do you want to learn how to use this?” He gestured to the lightsaber on the floor.

The little girl nodded enthusiastically. Ben looked to the man at the front of the room. “Can I teach her, Uncle Luke?” 

This was Luke Skywalker. Luke had a daughter and a husband. He smiled. “Of course you may, Ben.”

With his uncle’s permission, Ben showed the little girl how to hold the lightsaber as Luke pulled out a datapad and began to write, watching over his daughter and nephew, a smile in his eyes. 

The scene changed, and Ben and the little girl, Paddie, were in a forest. The conifer trees stretched high into the sky above them, and they ran through the leaf litter holding hands. If Rey squinted hard enough, they almost looked like brother and sister. 

Rey raced after them, and then the three came into a clearing. The Millennium Falcon was there, with Han and Chewie working on the roof. Han was beginning to go grey, but still was far younger than Rey had ever seen him.

“Ben, Rey,” Han called out. Rey froze. Could he see her, clearly out of place? But the little girl called out to her uncle, she learned that the little girl had the nickname of Rey. 

“Get on board, you two. We need to get to the Academy. Luke’s heard about our little field trip.” 

Ben sighed, rolling his eyes and tugging Paddie along with him. “Fine, Dad. Come on, Rey.” The two climbed on board, and before Rey could follow them, the scene changed again. 

Rey stood behind Luke, watching Paddie hide behind his robes. Paddie was a little bit older, looking more and more mature for her age. He was talking to a woman who was too familiar, but still younger than Rey had ever seen her. “Leia, you haven’t found Ben’s actions at least a little bit suspicious?”

This was the General. Luke’s older twin. Leia winced. “Luke, are you serious? I raised my son to be a good boy. He’s a teenager, Luke. He’s my son.”

“I know, Leia. I know. But I see our father in him. There is too much anger.”

Leia shook her head. “Luke, I can’t believe you. I trust you with him. But if you are worried, then keep an eye on him.”

“I will. I’ll see you when you come for the anniversary. Rey, say goodbye to your aunt.”

Paddie came forward from behind her father. Leia knelt down to hug the little girl and squeezed her tight. Leia must have never changed her way of hugging people, Rey thought, remembering the hug she had received before she had left to find the General’s brother. 

“Goodbye, little Rey. I will see you soon.”

“Bye, Auntie.” Paddie said, quietly. The little girl was shy, too shy. Rey wanted to reach out to the little girl and the General when the scene changed. 

It was dark. Rey could barely see anything when a door opened, casting yellow light into the room. There was a bed tucked into the corner of the room. Paddie was under the covers, tossing and turning as she tried to sleep. 

Luke stepped into the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. “Padmé, my sunrise, are you awake?”

Paddie sat upright. “I am, Papa.”

“Did I wake you?” Luke asked, crouching next to his daughter’s bed. Paddie shook her head. “Good. Tomorrow morning, I leave to go visit Aunt Leia and Uncle Han. Ben said he didn’t want to come with me. Do you want to come with me?”

Paddie thought for a moment and then shook her head. Luke nodded. “Okay, little one. I will see you in a couple days. I love you.”

“I love you too, Papa.”

Luke kissed his daughter on the top of her head. He stood and opened the door again. “Sweet dreams, sunrise.”

Rey wanted to follow Luke, to find out where this was taking place, but the scene changed again.

This was the same meadow where the children meditated. But instead of peace, and serenity, there was fire and chaos. Rey could hear children screaming, the sounds cutting short, smelt the smoke in the air. Paddie was there, running as fast as she could from some threat. 

Thunder crashed above her, as the clouds opened up and poured down. Rey could feel the water coursing through her hair and over her skin. Paddie kept running, unfazed. 

As the meadow revealed bare earth, soaked with the flash flooding of cold water, Paddie tripped over something, falling into the mud with a loud squelch.

A lightsaber ignited. Rey saw the Knights of Ren before Paddie raised her head to see them. The knight raised his saber to strike her down. Rey ran in front of the little girl, even though she knew that she couldn’t protect her. 

Then another lightsaber ignited, running through the knight who tried to hurt Paddie. Paddie scrambled to her feet, gasping when she realized she tripped over a body. Bodies were strewn across the field, illuminated by the lightning. The knight that ran through the one who tried to hurt Paddie was Kylo Ren. Paddie ran back the way she came, grass rushing past her. Rey kept up to her, trying to stay in between the little girl and Kylo Ren. 

He reached up and removed his helmet, throwing it aside.

“Paddie!” He yelled after her. Ben overtook Rey and swept Paddie into his arms. “Paddie, it’s okay, it’s okay. I won’t let them hurt you.”

Rey waited to see Paddie’s response, but when the little girl only squirmed and looked to the sky. Rey looked where she was looking and saw the Millennium Falcon landing a kilometer away. 

“Papa!” Paddie yelled, her voice little and shrill. There was no way that Luke could hear her. Ben cringed and ran. Paddie kicked and screamed as the Knights of Ren dispersed. Rey sprinted to catch up with Ben and his long legs. Ben waved a hand at Paddie’s temple, and the little girl went limp in his arms. Anger roared in Rey’s head, muffling other sounds.

The landing dock descended. Four figures, obviously Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie, rushed out as Ben climbed into a shuttle that Rey recognized. She turned around, not bearing to acknowledge what was going on. But then she had a full view of the people she had met over the past few days. 

Leia leaned onto her husband for support, who was blinking in disbelief, the stoic attitude clearly not new. Luke began to yell as someone else began to cry. “Rey! Rey where are you!?”

Silence, with exception for the rain, fire, and thunder. Ben left the shuttle before it left, going into hyperspace while it was still in atmosphere, casting a blast of wind that shook the world around it. 

Luke took a deep breath and screamed again. “Padmé!”

The scene changed. Rey reached up and felt the tears on her face. The sun was beating down, and the sizzle of heat made Rey shudder. This was Jakku. 

Unkar Plutt held onto Paddie’s arm. Rey felt her heart seize. This was the first thing that Rey could remember. 

“Paddie, I’ll come back for you when it’s safe. I promise.” It was Ben, crouched down at her height. He turned and got back into the shuttle.

“No! Come back!” Rey shouted, and she didn’t know which one of her said it. The scene faded to black, and Rey slept. 


	6. Chapter 6

Rey woke, this time for real. The room was dark, and damp, and cold. She was laying on something soft, yet scratchy. As her eyes adjusted to the lighting, she stood, and promptly was hit by a wave of dizziness. When she cursed, a door opened, blinding Rey with sunlight. 

A figure stuck its head inside. “Rey Erso, come outside.” Luke said. His voice was still rough, but it had gone softer, like the teacher in the meadow. Rey followed, ducking her head to get out the door. 

The sun was too bright, and the grass was too green, and the water was too blue. There was the sound of waves crashing, of animals making their noises. Luke was still wearing the grey robes, with the cloak attached to the shoulders. Rey couldn’t do anything. She was frozen where she stood. This was her father.

“Master Skywalker, how long was I asleep?” Rey asked. Luke shook his head slowly, like he was disappointed, but not with her. 

“It’s been a standard day.” There was silence between them. Rey didn’t know what to fill it with. She had been out for an entire day. That was the most she had ever sleep. She didn’t feel that well rested. Her head spun and her stomach ached, not the hunger ache, or the bleeding ache, but something that must have been from the fall. 

Luke sighed. “What my nephew did to you was inexcusable. He went back down to the Falcon. Your friends tried to take you with them, but I told them to go make sure that Ben didn’t do anything rash. I don’t know what he was thinking, believing that you were my daughter. My daughter’s been dead for a long time. I apologize for what he did to you.”

Rey broke. “When I was asleep, I dreamt about a little girl who survived the Academy slaughter. Ben left her on Jakku and promised her that when it was safe, he would come back for her. I just left Jakku two standard weeks ago. Rey was never my real name, and Erso was just something Poe Dameron gave me. I think that I’m your daughter.”

Luke blinked. “Ben put memories in your head. My daughter’s dead. I felt her presence sputter out. Thank you for trying to make me feel better about what Ben has done.”

Rey thought for a moment. “There were other memories too. There was a dark room, where I was trying to sleep, and you asked me if I wanted to come to see my aunt and uncle. I said no, and you called me your sunrise. Then there was a meadow, with you and your students. A girl named Iatous was holding a baby. Then there was a city. There was two men holding a baby. One of them was blond, and the other one’s name was Wedge.”

Luke blinked at the name, but steeled. “You can’t be my daughter, Rey Erso.” Luke turned and stormed away, but he was cut off by three blue, shimmering ghosts. It was the man who was there when Rey’s guardians were murdered, Ani, Naberrie, and Ess. The man looked angry, scarily so. Ess and Naberrie looked angry as well, but disappointed. Luke shrunk into himself, only slightly, but Rey was good at reading people, and she caught it. 

“Luke.” He said. “I know my granddaughter. Your mother and your grandmother and I have been watching over her, because we couldn’t see you, or Leia. Ben was stubborn and didn’t see me.” 

“You have lost hope. Without hope, you will never learn from your mistakes.” Ess said, without giving Luke time for a word edgewise. Naberrie didn’t speak, her blue tinted eyes welling and running over with water.

Luke looked ashamed. “Father,” He tried to protest, but the ghosts, including the man that Rey now knew to be Anakin Skywalker, glared at him until he fell silent. Rey turned back to Luke, who looked at Rey with a new wave of confusion. 

Naberrie looked even sadder as she watched her son stare at her granddaughter. “Luke. Anakin, Shmi, and I have been watching over your daughter ever since Ben left her in the care of a pair of scavengers. Rey stayed with them until they were murdered by a rival scavenger.”

Anakin spoke up, gripping his wife’s hand harder. “I used what little influence I have left on this world to lure her away from them. I distracted her before her guardians died.”

Rey remembered the day Inej and Neium were killed. The mirage-man, Force ghost, her grandfather, had held her when they were murdered. 

Ess spoke up, but Naberrie had said Shmi when referring to her. “Just before the first sandstorm hit when she was alone, I came in her dreams and showed her how to seal the cracks and protect herself.”

“Ess, Naberrie?” Rey spoke up, her voice quiet against the pounding of her head. “You can say your names now?”

Naberrie straightened in realization. “Oh. Oh of course. Now that you remember, the Force will let us speak our names. My name is Padmé Amidala. My family name was Naberrie before I became Queen of my home planet.”

Ess was eager to reintroduce herself to her great granddaughter. “My name was Shmi, Shmi Skywalker. Ess was just the first initial of my name.”

“And I’m assuming you know who I am,” Anakin Skywalker said. Rey nodded, because she did know who her grandfather was, what burden he carried, and why it upset him so much that his grandson had been parading around in a black cape and helmet for a decade and a half. Rey looked at her family, at Luke and Anakin and Padmé and Shmi. 

Wasn’t the little girl in her dream named Padmé? Rey turned from Luke to Padmé and back to Luke. “What was your daughter’s name, Master Skywalker?”

“I named her Padmé Breha Skywalker. Sometimes we called her Rey.” Luke said, his voice distant. “When you said your name was Rey Erso, I felt hope that she wasn’t dead. Especially since Erso has always been a common false surname. I knew at least fifty Ersos. Don’t get me started on how many Rooks.”

“But-” Rey started. 

“No. My daughter is dead.” Luke went to turn away but the ghosts moved in front of him. Padmé wasn’t full on crying yet, but she was well on her way to it. The tears were trailing down her blue porcelain skin, but she held her composure tight. 

And then she spoke. “This is your daughter, Luke. Stop being so stubborn. We have lived our lives too long being stubborn. Open your heart and believe in your family.”

And with that, the ghosts vanished, Rey watching as they left, leaving behind the bright greens and blues of Ahch-To. She turned back to Luke. He was staring, and the focused attention was a little disconcerting, but Rey forced herself not to shrink into herself. 

And then the last Jedi spoke. “Your presence changed. I didn’t realize how your presence in the Force changed. I was too focused on my anger and my grief to notice that it really was you. Padmé, you’re really here.” His voice got lighter, and faster and Rey and Luke stared at each other for a moment before Rey crashed into her father, holding on to him and not even caring when the broken joints of the metal hand caught in her hair. 

“Papa,” Rey laughed. “Papa.” 

Luke held Rey out at an arm’s length. “Let me look at you, sunrise. You look so much like your grandmother.” Luke laughed, and he kept laughing, and then he started to cry. Rey wondered why he was okay with losing all the water he was, seeing as he was from the desert, like her. He pulled Rey back to him, and as she was held by her father, Rey felt the water running down her own face. 

They stood like that for too little. If Rey had her own way, they would have stood there for the same amount of time that they had spent apart. But she had other responsibilities. When Rey pulled away from her father, she found the mini hologram the General had slipped into her pocket while she sent Rey off. “This is from General Organa,” Rey said, realizing too late that she could refer to the General by her name to her brother. 

Luke took the hologram, a tiny silver and blue disk, humming with the battery’s charge. He placed it on his palm, the metal one, and activated it. The figure that leapt from the projected was hardly six inches tall, and held the blue tint that the Force ghosts had held. It was the General, Aunt Leia, Rey corrected herself. Of course she would send a message with her son and niece. She was wearing the same clothes as she was when she sent off the Falcon. 

“Luke. We miss you. I have a suspicion that the girl carrying this and your lightsaber was Rey. Especially since she calls herself Rey. Anyways. The First Order had developed another superweapon. Like the Death Stars, but planet sized. It took out an entire system, Luke.The weapon has been destroyed with the help of a deserter stormtrooper. I sent him with Rey and Poe Dameron. You remember Poe Dameron? Shara’s little boy? You should see him now. One of the best X-Wing pilots of this age.”

This wasn’t scripted. This was Rey’s aunt being genuine, and vulnerable, in a way she was never allowed to be as a fearless leader. Leia took a breath and continued.

“Of more important matters, Ben came home. He destroyed his lightsaber and burned the costume. I sent him with them because he’s trying to redeem himself. You don't need to forgive him. He did unforgivable things. There was no time for you to say ‘I told you so, Leia’ before everything went to hell.” The general looked up, towards the blue sky, and Rey realized she was holding back tears. “The First Order is regrouping. We need to train this girl and the stormtrooper. His name is Finn. I have a suspicion that he is a Force sensitive as well. I formally invite you, Luke Skywalker, out of exile. You’re our only hope.”

Rey looked up from the hologram and found her father was crying again. So much crying today. The hologram wasn’t finished playing. “I’m sending for Wedge. Even if this girl isn’t your daughter, you need to see your husband.” Leia’s figure looked directly at Luke. “As your older sister and general, I expect to see you when the Millennium Falcon returns to the Resistance base.”

The hologram flickered out, and Luke closed the metal fist and wiped his face with the other hand. He turned and started down the path towards the stone village, leaving Rey behind. 

“Wait! Papa, where are you going?” Rey called out, having trouble starting her legs to follow him. Luke turned around. 

“You heard General Organa. We’re going home.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a day late, I'm really sorry. I got home from work late last night and I went straight to bed. Whoops.

The planet’s sun hung over their heads when they set off down the island. Luke took one last look at the desert style tombstone before he turned away for the last time.

Rey looked at her father, silent. He looked at her, reaching out with his flesh hand. She took it. When they reached the stone village, Luke reached inside the first hut and retrieved Rey’s staff and the bag that she had carried up with her. Luke also grabbed a bag for himself, and a waterskin that he held in his metal hand.

“I know what long term dehydration looks like, Padmé. Drink.”

Rey took the waterskin from her father and took a long drink. The water was clean and cool. She wasn’t going to mention the fact that she had a waterskin of her own that she brought up from the Falcon, and even though it was two days old and warm, Rey was still willing to drink it. 

But she couldn’t refuse from her father, seeing how angry he had gotten at Ben. But Ben had destroyed all of Luke’s family, and murdered hundreds of people, and yet Rey had done nothing wrong and she was still afraid of him. What was wrong with her?

They walked down the steps together. It had taken Finn, Poe, Ben, and herself half a day to climb all of the steps, so she expected to be back by nightfall. 

Halfway past noon Luke stopped to catch his breath. He had gotten old, and Rey was ready to rest her feet as well. The ocean waves crashed gently against the rocky islands. “Why did you come here, of all places?” Rey asked, breaking their silence. Luke finished taking a drink before he answered. 

“Thousands of years ago, the Jedi had a temple here. The first temple.” Luke sighed, looking out to the ocean. “When everything fell, I wanted to come here, to see what the first Jedi saw. Why they prospered so long, how they started and grew. How they succeeded and I failed.”

Rey was silent. “I wish I remembered more,” She said, not looking at her father straight on.  Luke turned and looked at his daughter. “I mean, I remember everything. But it’s all from the perspective of a child. I didn’t understand any of it, why you called me Rey when you were with others, but called me Padmé when it was just you, or when Ben was around.”

Luke blinked. “I will tell you why, Padmé, but it is a story for later. Others need the explanation as well as you.”

He stood. Rey followed, using her staff to prop herself up before swinging it onto her back. They made the rest of the trip in relative quiet, and when the Millennium Falcon came in view, Luke froze. His face shifted, from happiness to sadness, to anger, but then back to that happiness. 

“I haven’t seen her in so long, Rey.” He said, nostalgia filling his tone. The twilight cast violet shadows around the ship’s features, shining metallic. Then the hatch door lowered, and two figures came running. 

Luke tensed. Rey’s face split into another grin as the figures approached. She let go of her father’s hand and ran to meet them. “Finn! Poe!”

“Rey!” Finn yelled, echoed immediately by Poe. The two swept her up into a hug, all smiling faces. 

“Rey, we tried to stay with you, but Master Skywalker took you away,” Poe said, ruffling her hair. “He made us go keep an eye on Ben. I mean, he’s been sulking, but that’s what I’d figure he’d go do. He did that the entire way here.”

“What did he do to you, Rey? “ Finn asked, concern written all over his face. “You fell, and you didn’t respond, like, at all. Your breathing went slow, and you barely had a pulse.”

Poe slung an arm around Finn’s shoulder, the other arm going around Rey’s form. “Ben’s been giving off this vibe of pure fear. All three of us have been worried sick.”

Rey looked at the men. “Ben didn’t hurt me.” She said it simply, as if she was stating the weather. 

The two sputtered. “But-”

Rey put her hands out like she was trying to approach an injured animal. “I’m fine. He made me remember what I forgot. I just got so overwhelmed. It was five years’ worth of memories all at once.” Rey explained, and Finn relaxed slightly. Poe, on the other hand, got more worked up. Finn gave him a look, and Poe took a deep breath. 

“We both are so glad you’re okay.” Finn said.

“But was Ben lying or not?” Poe asked. “Are you a Skywalker?”

“I think I can answer that one,” Luke spoke up. Finn and Poe froze. In their joy of reuniting with Rey, they had completely missed Luke’s presence. “Rey is my daughter.”

Finn grinned. “Maz was right. Your family was ahead of you.”  

Luke spoke up again. “Maz Kanata. I haven’t seen her in years.”

“She gave me Grandfather’s lightsaber,” Rey said. “I haven’t gotten a chance to tell you where I got it.”

Luke looked up, thinking for a moment. “Seems plausible. I don’t know how many things she’s gotten her hands on over the years.”

“If I had found it on Jakku, scavenging, I wouldn’t have it now. I would have traded it and I would have gotten enough portions to feed me for a year. And that’s with me eating three of them a day.”

Luke looked upset at this. Rey scrambled to explain herself. “If I had found it on Jakku, I wouldn’t have known who it belonged to. Everyone there believes that you are a legend. I wouldn’t have known that it belonged to you and Grandfather.”

Her father shook his head. “No. That’s not what I’m upset about. I’m upset and sad that my only child had to spend her life living day to day. That’s not what childhood is for.”

Finn nodded. “Even though the First Order was cruel, they still fed us regular meals.”

Poe looked between Rey, Luke and Finn before speaking. “I don’t think that’s what Master Skywalker meant. I believe that he meant that neither of you had a normal childhood. You never truly got to be children.”

Luke looked at Poe, some sort of sad smile on his face. Poe recognized the expression as something straight off of General Organa’s face. There was something about Skywalkers and sorrow. 

The sun dipped into the ocean water, slowly as if it was trying to adjust to the temperature. “We should be heading off,” Luke said. “It is going to freeze once the sun sets completely.”

Rey nodded, already feeling the chill of the temperate climate. “Did the Resistance send you the coordinates?” When they had set off, they hadn’t received any transmissions.

Finn nodded. “They’ve been set for the jump, we just need to get out of the atmosphere.”

Luke kept staring at the Falcon, smiling that same sad smile. “Then what are we waiting for?”


	8. Chapter 8

Ben really didn’t want to see his uncle. When he and the others had come back to the Falcon without Rey, Poe had dug some bacta patches out of a compartment in the cockpit. Poe couldn’t look him in the eyes when he put it on him, the patches healing but still promising a scar crossing through his eyebrow.

Then Ben had hidden away in the underbelly of the ship, trying hard not to think of the childhood he had here and failing, the scratches on the cockpit door that marked his growth, the dejarik table where his godfather had taught him to play, the hallways where he learned to walk, to run. He still heard Finn and Poe discussing what was going to happen to Rey, and what they could have done to take her back from Skywalker.

Ben knew that his uncle wasn’t going to believe him when he claimed that Rey was his little cousin. But somehow, it still hurt when Luke had laughed at him, told him to his face that he was a liar even though Ben was not lying.

It made Ben angry that Luke had been able to forgive his own father, one of the darkest figures in the galaxy’s recent history, but not his nephew. But it was to be expected. His uncle believed that Ben killed his daughter. Luke could have searched Ben’s mind, see it to be true. But in his rage and anger, which was to be expected, he hadn’t.

When Rey and his uncle had returned, Ben tried to hide again. He buried himself in wires and controls and tried to clean out the sand and rust from them. But there was no hiding from one of the last powerful Force users in the galaxy.

Luke sought him out. The two of them were alone, Rey reuniting with her friends and the little droid on board. Ben shook where he stood. Neither man was armed, but Luke’s metal hand still glinted dangerously with what had happened the previous day. And then Luke spoke.

“Ben, I’m sorry.”

Ben Organa Solo sputtered in confusion. Luke continued to speak. “You were right about her. It took me too long to realize that it was actually Padmé. Your grandparents and great grandmother had to confirm what was true. I was stubborn. I spent fourteen years mourning her, and all the others. I made her a headstone, Ben, a headstone. I still cannot forgive you for what happened, but I’m sorry.”

Ben gaped, just a little bit. “No, Uncle, I’m sorry.”

Luke laughed, and Ben startled. He kept laughing, until he stopped to catch his breath. “What have we become?” He said, laughing under the words, and Ben smiled. “Everyone just keeps running. We never learn. We never learn, Ben.”

Ben started to laugh, and his uncle joined him again, and for a moment everything was going to be alright.

Rey found them like this. “We’re taking off soon. Papa, do you want to come to the cockpit?”

Luke thought, and then nodded, and he gestured for Ben to follow him. There were five people in the cockpit as the Millennium Falcon took off.

Luke spared a glance at his daughter when he saw the speck that was once her gravestone. She didn’t need to know how he had grieved her. As soon as the thought ran through his head, she reached over and grabbed her father’s flesh hand. She smiled at him, and he smiled back, that sad Skywalker smile.

In hyperspace, Luke made it his duty to befriend every member of the crew that he didn’t already know. He joked with Finn about the stormtrooper disguise he wore when he met his sister.

He told Poe stories in the cockpit about his parents, about Shara Bey, a mother who would be so proud of her son, and about Kes Dameron, a good friend and better pilot. He told stories to Poe about his antics as a toddler, the Force sensitive tree in their backyard on Yavin IV.

He also spent quite a length of time chatting with BB-8 about how whoever programmed C-3P0 was cruel in giving him the droid equivalent of anxiety, Anakin’s ghost listening in the background and cringing.

Luke spent the most time with Rey, learning about his daughter, telling her stories, trying in vain to make up for lost time. Sometimes her grandparents would show up, along with her great grandmother, and Rey would want to drag Ben into the room so they could have a family reunion of some sort, but Ben wanted to wait until they returned to the Resistance before they did that, to include his mother. Luke agreed. Luke’s parents told him about how proud they were of their granddaughter, and Luke would nod and try very hard to shield his emotions and not cry.

He taught his daughter to play dejarik, and soon, she was beating him with her excellent sense of strategy. He kept playing her, even when he knew there was no hope, to try to ease his nerves about reuniting with his sister and brother in law.

He missed them terribly, and as he had told stories to Poe Dameron, Poe Dameron told him stories about his sister. Poe referred to his sister as General Organa, and the tone of voice that he used was nothing but pure respect and awe. Lue smiled, knowing that when he left and when everything else had fallen, Leia had gone back to what she was good at. She had always been a strong leader, and it was a light in the dark to know that she was in charge.

As the third night cycle came around on the ship, Rey, Finn and Ben went to sleep in the communal quarters. Luke went to the underbelly of the ship, to meditate, or whatever he was doing when he was on his own. He had so many habits he had to break from the decade and a half of solitude. Poe and BB-8 went to the cockpit, BB-8 plugging themselves in and going into low power mode, leaving Poe by himself. Poe braced himself for a long night.

On the fourth night in hyperspace, the Millennium Falcon received a transmission that would change everything.  

* * *

 

There was nothing like falling asleep in hyperspace. Falling asleep in land transport was a bumpy ordeal, promising a headache when waking up against the window. Falling asleep on in-atmosphere flights was gentle rocking, like falling asleep in space before the jump. But hyperspace was smoother than cream, until someone lost consciousness. Then you felt the motion, like something was pulling you a million miles a minute from right behind your navel.

Finn was used to the sleep of hyperspace. He was used to thin bunk mattresses, and sharing quarters with others. But this ship was different, the noises were different, and there was something wrong. He could feel fear, and someone’s sorrow, and nausea.

He was asleep. Not dreaming, but flashes of images. Red lights crashing towards a planet. Faces, a dark haired man gone grey. The General, a blonde man, and the same dark haired man holding a baby. A hologram of the General, before the view shifted violently, the viewer running out of the room.

Finn woke up, hitting his head on the edge of the empty bunk above him. Rey and Ben were fast asleep, and Master Skywalker always disappeared during the night. He never seemed to sleep. Finn felt his head spin, and his stomach churned violently.

The fresher seemed like the best idea, seeing as he felt like he was going to hurl. For some reason, Finn felt complete despair. Then the bile hit the back of his throat, but he didn’t actually throw up. Strangely, Finn thought he needed to check on Poe, who, along with BB-8, was taking a shift watching over the autopilot controls.

The hallway’s lights were dim, in the night cycle. Finn knew the ship like the back of his hand now, and it was very close to becoming like a home. He found himself at the cockpit, the door closed. He opened the door, watching it slide open. “Poe?”

The cockpit was washed over with blue light. The General was projected over the control panel, her hands clasped in front of herself. She was in plain clothes, but still retained her signature authoritative appearance. “Finn,” the General greeted.

“General,” Finn ducked his head, bowing in some sense of the word, closer to bowing his head. “Where did Poe go?”

The General sighed. “I told him some awful news. He needed a moment. I don’t know where he went, Finn. I’m sorry.”

Finn shook his head. “No, General, it’s not your fault. I think I felt his emotions, if he got the bad news. I just wanted to check on him.”

She nodded. “You are a good man, Finn Rook.”

“Thank you, General.” Finn left the cockpit, wondering where Poe could have fled to. He didn’t want to call out for the pilot, in fear of waking the others, but then he remembered the nausea and the bile. Poe must have gone to the fresher.

Finn felt the despair and sorrow that had been lingering in the back of his mind swell as he came to the door of the nearest fresher. He pushed the door open, slowly, and braced himself for what he was about to see.

Poe was slumped over by a toilet, complexion washed out pale. His face was shiny with tears, and before he noticed Finn watching, he bent over the toilet again, dry heaving. He jumped when he saw Finn.

“Finn! Buddy, what are you doing up?” Poe asked, putting up the front and rushing to his feet. He wiped his mouth and face. “I just felt a little sick, buddy. I’m fine.”

Finn crossed his arms loosely. “Poe, I think I am Force sensitive, because I felt you get upset. I felt you get sick. I saw flashes of images. I saw the General’s hologram, through your eyes. I saw you run away. I don’t think you are okay, Poe.”

Poe shrugged, his posture deflating. “You’re right. General Organa gave me some awful news, and the worst thing is that neither of us are sure if it’s true or not.”

“Did it have something to do with the Hosnian system?” Finn asked, careful not to bring up the faces that he had seen in his vision, as he dubbed it.

Poe nodded, biting at his upper lip. “Someone who helped me get into the New Republic Starfleet was living on Hosnian Prime when the system went up. We don’t know if he was on planet or not, because he travelled a lot.”

“What is his name?” Finn asked, pressing gently at the very obvious wound in Poe’s facade.

“His name was, is Wedge Antilles.” Poe said, catching the tense he was speaking in and changing it to preserve whatever hope there was for his survival.

Finn remembered his friend, the three stripes of blood left on his helmet. Death was nothing new for either Finn or Poe. But neither of them were alive for the original Death Star, for the death of a peaceful planet that left only a few survivors. Neither of them had witnessed death at such a massive scale.

“I’m not supposed to tell you this,” Poe said, still breathing heavily, still pale, especially in the fluorescent lights. “But Wedge is Luke’s husband. Rey’s other father.”

Finn gasped. Poe continued. “Wedge’s travels was him looking for his husband. If he’s dead, he died not knowing that his daughter survived, and died believing that his nephew killed her.”

Finn shut his eyes. “Oh, kriff.”

Poe went to leave. “I’ve left General Organa for too long. I need to go.”

Finn nodded, moving out of the way, but catching Poe’s arm as he approached. “Poe, none of us are okay, but we need to have hope.”

Poe smiled at the other man, his skin still washed out, but the front back up. “Get some sleep, buddy. We’ll be landing soon.”

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this was late, I had a very busy week this week (for example in the past three days I worked 12 hours, went on two college tours, made a short film, spent four hours on a school bus with no suspension, and had an emotional breakdown because I forgot to take my antidepressants) I hope you enjoy!

Luke woke up with phantom pain in his right wrist and a sore back. He didn’t know where he was. For a moment, he panicked, but then he took a breath and realized. He had fallen asleep propped up against a wall in the Falcon while meditating. 

Being on this ship was strange, after so long, but it was easy to fall back into meditating. He remembered the ambient noise, the metallic sounds and the footsteps and the noise of the crew on board. It was easy to pretend like he was twenty three again, still adjusting to the new hand, still learning how to be a Jedi. But he wasn’t a Jedi any more, and he was alright with that. He had spent fourteen years learning how to do that. 

But he was still working on how not to be a father who lost a child. 

His daughter was up in the cockpit with the rest of the crew. He felt out through the Force to her, because even though they were physically closer than they had been for fourteen years, Luke still felt like she was just a vision of something that might have been. 

Rey noticed her father’s gentle tap at the back of her mind and latched onto his signature, like taking his hand. Luke felt like crying at her happiness. Somehow, after everything that had happened to her, she was still so joyful, held that same hope that he did when he was young. He loved her, he really did, even though the thought of her was tinged with sadness, and regret, and fear and anger. Suddenly he was struck with the anxiety of seeing the rest of his family, his sister, his best friends, his husband. 

And then something changed. The footsteps up above shifted, clanking towards the underbelly of the ship. Luke knew that she was coming but he still froze when she came around the corner and found him. 

“Papa?” Rey asked. “What’s the matter?” She leaned up against the wall, sliding down so she was sitting next to her father. Luke turned and looked at her. 

“It took me years to relearn how to meditate after the Academy. I had visions of all my faults causing your death. I couldn’t sleep, because every time I tried I saw you and your father and I realized if it weren’t for the holo I had of you two, I would have forgotten your faces. I missed so much, Rey.”

Rey took her father’s hand. “But I’m here now, Papa.” 

Luke smiled. “You are. But I am afraid, Rey, of facing the rest of your family. I abandoned them in a time of need. I don’t know how I’m going to tell them I’m sorry.” He realized that he was sharing his darkest thoughts with a young woman who was essentially a stranger. “Tell me about yourself, Rey.”

Rey blinked. The request had come out of nowhere. The silence hung heavy as Rey thought. 

“I barely know you, Rey. Tell me about you. Please.”

She took a breath. “For five years, I was taken care of by a pair of scavengers who were brother and sister before they died. From there I took care of myself until Great Grandmother came to me in a dream and told me how to protect myself in a sandstorm. I scavenged parts from star fighters from mythical wars to trade for food and water. The traders were cruel. I spent half my life worrying about dying of dehydration.”

Luke winced at the thought of his daughter suffering, and Rey noticed but continued. “I could have moved somewhere where I could have better chances of surviving, but I remembered someone telling me that my family would come back for me when it was safe, so I stayed. Grandmother and Great Grandmother taught me about the bleeding, and they warned me about growing old and dwelling in the past. I didn’t listen.”

“Skywalkers never take advice.” Her father laughed. Rey smiled. “No, it’s true, we really don’t.”

“Two weeks ago I took in a B.B. unit. They were wanted by the First Order, along with their owner and the man who rescued him from the First Order. Finn helped me escape on the Falcon. Then, once we were out of atmosphere, we were drawn in by Han and Chewie. We escaped First Order sympathizers and we went to Takodana. We met Maz, and something called me down into the bottom of her castle and I found your lightsaber. I touched and had a vision. Then the First Order blew up an entire system, and they sent troops down and destroyed Maz’s castle, and Kylo Ren kidnapped me, because I had seen the map that lead to you, but I wouldn’t give it to him.”

Luke blinked. “Did he try to get it by using the Force?” 

Rey nodded. “I resisted his attempts to get into my mind.”

“That’s amazing.” Luke said. “I couldn’t do that for many years. I still have trouble completely shielding myself, and to for you to do it with no training, that’s something else. I apologize for interrupting. Please continue with the story.”

“Then Finn, Han and Chewie came and got me, and Poe and the rest of the Resistance fleet destroyed Starkiller Base. Then we got back on the Falcon and we came to find you.”

Luke thought before responding to Rey’s watered down retelling. “Tell me about you, sunrise. What do you like? What’s your opinion of sand? What’s your favorite color?”

It was Rey’s turn to blink in confusion, but she answered the questions diligently. “I like sour squash. I tried some on the base before we left. It’s native to Poe’s homeworld. I like the stars at night, and I like flying. I don’t like sand. It’s impossible to get out of my hair and my clothing. And my favorite color is orange. Like flight suit orange.”

Luke grinned. “You are very much my daughter, Rey.” Rey shrunk into herself, a smile on her face. “I think I should start teaching you how to use the Force.”

“Really!” Rey exclaimed, her accent catching on the edges of the sound. “What are you going to teach me?”

Luke looked up at the ceiling, the pipes and wires, like he was thinking of what he could teach her, but really he was just letting the moisture sink back into his eyes. “I want to teach you how to meditate. Attune your body and mind to the Force. Do you want to learn?”

Rey nodded, and Luke began. “Sit with your legs crossed. You can lean up against the wall if you’d like.” 

She scrambled to follow her father’s instructions, back straight against the wall, one leg crossed over the other, eyes pressed shut. And his voice cut through the blackness, like a lightsaber through rubble. “Breathe. Just breathe.”

Rey released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She focused on her ribcage swelling and receding. And then she saw light. It was soft and glowing, coming from her right side. “Tell me what you see.”

“The light. The dark.” Rey focused on the edge of the light, where it met the darkness, and she watched the light go grey. “The balance.”

“You see my Force signature. I see yours. Now, find Ben.” 

Rey focused, but not really, letting her perception grow, and suddenly the light on her right was accompanied by another flickering light. It was her own Force signature, and she kept zooming out, letting her vision grow and grow. She found two more lights, each as bright as her own. There was a third light there as well, but it was less like a light, and more like an afterimage she saw after she looked into an actual light. 

“There are two lights,” Rey said. She watched as her father’s light wavered, and then she was opening her eyes even though she was told not to. The real lights on the ship were blinding. 

“Another member of our crew has great potential with the Force. Now, seeing as I knew Poe Dameron when he was young, he is not the one we are dealing with. It must be your stormtrooper friend Finn.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Rey asked, genuinely concerned.

“Right now? Nothing.” Luke said, shrugging as he stood up, his back cracking. Rey followed him. “I will talk to him after we get situated on the new base.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Rey felt the Falcon’s presence shift. They had dropped out of hyperspace. She scrambled for the cockpit, wishing her father goodbye and thanking him. She left him alone again, and he felt as her Force signature went farther and farther away from him. 

Luke felt it as soon as the Falcon dropped into realspace. It hurt, and he slumped back to the wall, letting the pain wash over him. He hadn’t felt this in fourteen years. The severed Force bond that Luke held with his twin sister was alight again. Leia knew he was here, just as he could sense her. 

He didn’t want to activate the bond, to initiate contact with her, not yet.

He would wait.

* * *

 

When the Falcon landed, Luke found himself at the back of the cockpit, watching Poe Dameron groan about how he owed his squadron a whole bunch of credits. The planet was covered in mountains. Snap had won the bet. 

Finn was sitting next to Poe, with BB-8 in between them. Finn had the smile on his face that matched the ones in his eyes. Rey stood behind Poe, leaning over his shoulder and looking out the viewport. Ben was sitting behind Finn, his arms crossed, foot tapping quietly. 

“Can you see them?” Poe asked, looking up at Rey. Luke didn’t need to ask who Poe was talking about. 

“I can!” Rey exclaimed, her heart pounding. “I can see them!”

Finn laughed. “Alright, let’s go then!” 

They all stood, moving to exit the ship. Luke stayed behind, watching the bustle of the tarmac below them. People were beginning to gather at the bottom of the ship, wellwishers that admired Finn, and Poe, and his daughter. Luke put up his hood. 

Rey stepped back into the cockpit, putting a hand on her father’s arm. He turned to face her. “We don’t have to go,” She said, not only reassuring her father, but herself. Luke smiled, his face obscured by the thick cloth. She was so innocent still. 

“Let’s go.”

The walk across the tarmac was a blur. Rey gripped her father’s hand tightly as the other Resistance fighters cheered for her. The scavenger girl who faced Kylo Ren and survived, who saved Finn, who saved the map to find Skywalker. Somehow, none of them mentioned her father himself, and Rey simply assumed that her father had masked himself with the Force. 

They made it through, to be greeted by Poe Dameron. Poe had turned back and met up with them. “The General and Captain Solo are waiting for you two. I’ll show you where they are.” He led the Skywalkers down the hallways of the new base, even though he wasn’t as well versed in these routes than the base on D’Qar. 

Luke reached up and removed the hood on his cloak. There was no one in this hallway. “These meeting rooms haven’t been distributed to the higher ups yet. That’s where we’re meeting them.”

Poe stopped in front of the door, and Luke could feel the damaged Force bond smart. “If you want me to leave you alone, I’ll be gone.” But before Luke or Rey could answer, Poe darted off back the way he came. Rey shared a look with her father before she spoke.

“I don’t think that I should be here for this,” Rey said, shuffling her feet. Luke turned. He looked at his daughter for a moment, as if he still felt like she was simply a vision. He didn’t truly want her to leave.

“Okay then,” Luke said, putting his flesh hand on her shoulder. “Go find Dameron, and Finn.”

Rey nodded, and she let Luke press a kiss to the crown of her head before she left. She looked over her shoulder as she went. “Love you, Papa.”

Luke smiled. “I love you too, sunrise.” She was gone. He turned back to the door. He felt the bond again, his sister’s presence both unnerving and calming. He opened the door, felt his sister suck in a breath. They were both there.

Luke stepped into the room. He felt his heart drop through his stomach.

His sister hadn’t gone completely grey yet, like her husband. The streaks of grey twisted through the braid that wrapped around her head. Leia had a hand pressed against her mouth, and the other held Han’s hand so tightly her knuckles had turned white. 

Han had stopped with the stoic act. His eyes were wet, like his wife’s. Except for the silver hair, he practically looked the same as when Luke left. They all looked the same, and Luke was suddenly reminded of sending them to Coruscant to get help when the Academy was burning. He forced the image away and tried to speak, and the lump in his throat blocked all sound. They stood in silence until he cleared his throat. 

“Leia. Han.”

Leia let go of her husband’s hand and ran to her brother. “Oh god, Luke.”

The twins held each other, Luke’s frame starting to shake as he began to cry. “I’m sorry,” He said, and he startled when Han wrapped his long arms around the two of them. “I’m so sorry.”

He hadn’t cried like this in years, since before he had completely accepted what had happened at the Academy and what he had done. The grief and regret of all his decisions washed over him again, but his family was there to help him take off some of the load. 

“Kid, it doesn’t matter anymore. You came back.” Han said, the hand that ended up on the back of Luke’s neck strangely comforting. Leia held her brother closer, and tighter, and Luke remembered how much she thrived on comforting others.

“She’s alive. My daughter’s alive and I wasted so much time grieving her, grieving everything,” Luke sobbed. “She came and found me.”

Han and Leia let go of Luke, his face shiny with the tears that were caught by his beard. “We didn’t realize it was her,” Han admitted. “She piloted a stolen ship of off Jakku with hotshot Finn. You’d never guess which ship.”

“The Falcon,” Luke laughed, voice catching on another sob. “I know, she told me.”

Leia smiled, her eyes running over. “I had a hunch, but she felt different that how I remembered her. I would have told her if I had known.”

“I love you two,” Luke said, “Thank you.”

“Love you, too, kid.” Han said, pulling Luke back to him. Luke accepted the hug, this time holding his best friend back. 

“I was the one who found her, after she got off of Jakku. Chewie and I had been looking for the Falcon for four years.” Han laughed, a big hand tangled in the back of Luke’s head. “She’s very much her father’s daughter.” 

Luke nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. “I know. Every time I look at her I see Wedge more and more.”

Han’s hands moved to Luke’s shoulders. Luke still had to crane his neck to look Han in the eyes.  “That’s not the father I was referring to, kid.”

Luke choked.

“She is so much like you, Luke,” Leia agreed. “She is selfless, and resourceful, and someone I am very proud of.” 

Luke smiled through the fresh wave of tears, and he laughed, and the three of them held each other again. The bittersweet happiness washed over them, settling around them and binding them. The heroes of the Rebellion, together again, after a decade and a half. 

Luke hoped it would last. He reached out to Rey, and Ben, begging them to come find them. It took several minutes, but the door opened again, causing Han and Leia to jolt. They relaxed slightly when they realized it was only Ben, followed by Rey. She had taken her hair down, pulling half of it back into a knot at the back of her head. 

“Aunt Leia, Uncle Han.” Her voice broke. Leia hugged the girl again, but this time held her tighter, more securely, now that she knew that Rey was her niece, so that she couldn’t be taken away again. 

“I should have known it was you, Rey,” Leia said, and then she went and hugged her uncle, as Ben was dragged into a hug with his mother. They were a family again, the Skywalkers together at last. 

And then Luke broke the silence. 

“You said you were going to find Wedge, right?”

Leia and Han shared a glance, their hearts breaking simultaneously. Leia turned to face her brother.

“Where is he, Leia?” Luke asked, and he picked up on her half shielded despair. “Oh, god.”

“Luke,” Leia started, glancing at her husband, and then her niece. “Wedge started a flight school about six years ago. He lived mostly on Hosnian Prime, but he still travelled, looking for you. Two weeks ago, the First Order blew up the Hosnian system.”

Luke couldn’t contain the shout that slipped out. Rey gasped.

“We haven’t heard from him. We can’t confirm if he’s alive or not. I’m so sorry, Luke.”  
  



	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am posting this early because I can, okay? Screw the schedule.  
> Also because I'm procrastinating writing my senior project writeup

The planet the Resistance had settled on after D’Qar felt monochromatic blue-grey. The air was crisp and dry, and sometimes the sky was bright blue one minute and the next it was dark grey. The base was nestled in between two light grey mountains, and past one of them was a giant grey sea. It felt tight knit and secure, for the most part, until what was remaining of the First Order sniffed them out and made them flee again.

The base itself was quiet, for the most part. Pilots came and went for patrols. Mechanics were always busy in the hangars, officers were always meeting, and foot soldiers were always training. Rey, Finn and Ben were all assigned quarters. Rey was with a pilot from Poe’s squadron, Jessika Pava, and Finn and Ben were rooming together.

Jess was nice enough, she made an effort to make sure that Rey was comfortable, that she wasn’t pushing any of Rey’s boundaries. She really appreciated that Jess didn’t push the fact that she was no longer Rey Erso, but Padmé Breha Antilles Skywalker. Jess didn’t ask why Rey wasn’t going to change her name in the Resistance files. Rey didn’t want to go anywhere near the databank where the files were kept.

If Rey could avoid the name and the place, Rey could pretend that she knew for sure that her other father was alive. She had watched the Hosnian system explode. Her father was living there.

Wedge hadn’t been in her life for nearly as much time as Luke had. He travelled. He explored. But when he came home, he was another light in her life. He took her flying, sitting her in his lap as he flew his X-Wing, letting her use the call sign Red 2, his call sign. When her dad came home, the three of them were happy.

Rey didn’t remember where her dad had gone off to before the attack on the Academy. She was glad that he wasn’t there to see Luke’s world burn. Rey was saddened that she only remembered snippets of her dad, his face, his laugh, his accent. She got her accent from him.

She missed him.

But as she missed him, life went on. She worked as a mechanic on the base, fixing X-Wings and shuttles and droids as the repairs were needed. Rey liked getting her hands dirty, liked making things work. It was the easiest way to transition from living on Jakku and living here.

When she wasn’t working, she was training with her father. Nothing to do with combat yet, just things like meditation and lifting rocks. Lifting rocks was easy. Meditation was harder, simply putting up shields and trying very hard not to think of her dad in front of Luke.

Rey didn’t want to go against her father’s wishes, but she felt that this kind of training was unnecessary. She already knew how to do this. Finn didn’t. And if Finn had a similar Force signature to Ben Solo’s, he clearly had the strongest potential to learn these things. Her father refused to teach him, let alone tell Finn that he was Force sensitive.

But she understood, in some sense. When he wasn’t with his daughter or his family, which really wasn’t a lot, he radiated sadness and anger, but it was muted. He stayed in the quarters that his sister had assigned him, alone. And when he was with them, they could feel the sadness that came off of him. He put on a smile, but the truth was that he was out of practice with shielding, and Rey could read every aspect of her father’s emotions.

She turned back to her work. She rarely saw Finn, or Ben, for that matter. They were still being vetted for their knowledge on the First Order. Ben, as an ex-commander of the First Order’s military, would know far more than Finn, who had worked sanitation while stationed on Starkiller Base.

It was okay, kind of. When she had seen Finn last, they were almost done with vetting him, and Finn had said that Poe had promised to train him to be a pilot. With his Force sensitivity, he would be a valuable member of the starfleet, but Rey really wanted him to train alongside her.

And if Ben wasn’t around, Rey wouldn’t be reminded of who Ben really was, or used to be. Even if he had changed for the better, he was still the same man who tortured her and Poe and Finn, and the same man who almost killed his father. There was no changing that.

Jess strode out on the tarmac, her orange flight suit tied around her waist, white tank top slung across her shoulders. “Rey!”

She stuck her head out from under Jess’s X-Wing, where she had been tinkering with a coupling. “Yeah?”

“Poe sent me to tell you that you should eat with Black Squadron at lunch mess.”

Rey sat up on her knees, wiping grease and oil on a rag that she had set aside. “Any reason why?” She usually just ate with her father. He appreciated her company, but he, like her, was having a hard time readjusting to being with a large group of people.

Jess shrugged. “Poe didn’t say.”

She blinked before shrugging. “I don’t see why I shouldn’t.”

Jess smiled, her grin toothy and bright. Rey caught herself staring at Jess. She was very pretty, the shiny black hair falling out of its ponytail, the dark eyes lighting up in the daylight, the way she cared about a girl she just met. But before Rey could finish the thought, the mess bell rang, startling her and Jess alike. Rey’s stomach growled fiercely.

“Come on, Rey, let’s get some food.” Jess said, reaching a hand out to help Rey to her feet. But when Rey was standing, Jessika didn’t let go of her hand. Rey blushed, the color rushing to the high points of her face. Jess noticed. “You good, bud?”

“Why are you holding my hand?”

Jess quickly let go of Rey’s hand. “Oh, kriff, I’m sorry, I should have asked, I’m sorry.”

Rey flustered, the two still walking towards the mess hall. “No, I’m not complaining, I was just asking why.”

Jess stumbled with her words, it being her turn to blush. It was much more obvious on her paler complexion than on Rey’s tanner skin. “In the Resistance, we don’t really mind all the touching. It was probably a bad idea to have you sit with us, especially if you’re really averse to touch. Black Squadron in particular can get a little handsy.”

“It’s fine,” Rey said, “I need to get used to it anyways.” Rey offering her hand back to Jess. She took her hand, and they walked to the mess hall together, both girls trying to hide their blushes.

Lunch was an interesting ordeal. Rey, as usual, loaded up her tray with as much food as she could carry, even slipping some fruit into the pockets in her new clothing. Jess didn’t take nearly as much, but still had a decent amount of food.

They found Poe waving them over in a corner of the mess hall. Finn was with them. Rey felt her face lighting up against her will. Her shields fell down, and she ran over to them, leaving Jess behind.

“Finn!” Rey shouted, setting down her tray next to him and the two swept each other into a massive hug.

“They finally finished vetting me.” Finn sighed in relief. “They’re not done with Ben yet.”

“It’s good to see you, Finn. Are you going to start training now?” Rey asked, as more members of Black Squadron began to filter around their table.

“Yeah, Poe’s gonna train me as a pilot.” Finn smiled. Poe clapped him on the back.

“He’s gonna have the best pilot in the Resistance as his teacher.” Poe said smugly. The rest of Black Squadron, Jess especially, groaned. Poe looked offended. “Oh, come on! I’m not bragging!”

The rest of their lunch mess was spent goofing around and teaching Rey and Finn how to have some damn fun instead of working and training all day long. People were sharing food casually, which confused Rey immensely.

Jess and another pilot, Snap Wexley, explained to her that it wasn’t stealing, they were all just sharing. It didn’t make sense. There was enough to go around, so they didn’t need to share, and sharing food was something that was associated with romantic couples on Jakku, and none of the pilots seemed like they were in a relationship.

Even after they explained, Rey was reluctant to even let others near her food. She always ate like it was her first meal, and it still seemed to make everyone around her give her their pity.

The meal period ended, and Rey went to find her father for their training. The sun was hanging over their heads as they set off. They hiked for an hour through the mountains, and Rey tied her jacket around her waist. It wasn’t Poe’s jacket, unfortunately. Finn had possession of that in that moment.

Finally, her father found what he was looking for. It was a ledge high up on the mountain, the slate grey rock contrasting with the bright blue sky and the dark blue sea hundreds of feet below. Rey dared herself to look out over the edge, but then got dizzy and stepped back. She turned to her father to ask him what they were doing that afternoon, and tried very hard and succeeded in not rolling her eyes when she saw him sitting down to meditate.

She followed suit hesitantly. Rey put up her shields and willed her thoughts not to drift away from the sound of the lapping waves hundreds of feet below and her own breathing.

She didn’t dare think of her father, of watching the Hosnian system explode from Takodana, of the uncertainty of her father’s state. Her shields were strong, but she didn’t trust them in her grief and with her minimal training.

She felt something welling in the back of her mind, promptly ignored it. It felt like pressure, like a dehydration headache, but she was anything but dehydrated. With the surplus of water here, Rey always made sure the water bottle clipped to her belt, next to her father’s lightsaber, was full. She still had trouble wrapping her mind around the amount of water there was in the galaxy.

The pressure built, and Rey grounded herself by latching onto her father’s Force signature, by breathing the salty air. She didn’t notice when her father stood behind her, moving to look over her shoulder.

A dull crack echoed behind her, but Rey was too focused on not thinking about her father to startle at the noise.

She was jolted back to reality when Luke yanked at the shoulder of her shirt. Her eyes flew open to see the rock where she had been sitting crumbled and fell into the water hundreds of feet below. The backs of Rey’s thighs smarted after being scraped by the sharp rock.

Luke helped her to her feet, staring, mouth open slightly.

“What happened?” Rey asked, breathing heavily. Her father blinked, trying to find the answer.

“I don’t know,” He said, unable to look Rey in the eyes. She noticed this, and the fact that Luke had put both of his hands on her forearms, holding her tight.

“Papa. What happened to me?” Rey tried again.

Luke sighed. “You were so deep in the Force that the world around you reacted. I was hardly fast enough to pull you back. If I were any slower, you would have fallen.”

Rey let out a small cry at the thought of falling. “I’m sorry.”

Luke winced. Rey stepped towards her father, who opened his arms and held his daughter tight. They stayed like that until the sun almost was completely under the sea on the far horizon, and then Luke pulled her out to arms’ length.

“We need to head back.”

They made the trek back to base in silence, Rey pondering her father’s fear, and Luke trying not to remember the night the Academy when everything went up in flames. Night fell, and the stars came out.

Luke stood at the front of the base, letting Rey stand in front of him. “Goodnight, sunrise.”

Rey hugged her father again. “Goodnight, Papa. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Get some sleep, Rey.” He looked at her with even parts scorn and amusement, like he knew what she was planning, but he understood her plight. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” Luke vanished into the base, and Rey was left out in the cool night. She debated going in and trying to sleep. But sleeping with others was still so foreign, and even though Jessika was so good and kind, it was strange and hard to fall asleep with someone else in the room. She needed to be able to watch her own back.

So Rey headed out to the hangar, to find the Falcon. There were so many repairs that needed to be done, and so much sand and rust to clean out from years of disuse. Even though she had spent all morning working on the X-Wings, she had taken on the Falcon as her own personal project.

She got to work in the underbelly of the ship, cleaning and tinkering with the controls. There was so much work to do. She let her hair loose before tying it up again, this time in the three knots she had worn on Jakku. It would keep more of her hair out of her face as she worked.

She was so anxious to start working that she didn’t take her father’s lightsaber off of her belt. Rey wondered when she would start considering the weapon hers. She had given Han’s blaster to Finn on Ahch-to. She propped her staff up against a wall and buried herself in circuits and wires.

The time passed blissfully. Rey cursed once or twice when she cut herself on the tools she was using to clean out the inner workings of the Falcon. She startled when she heard an incoming ship, but she relaxed when she remembered it was just a pilot coming back from patrol. They came every six hours local time, so Rey figured it was local midnight. She set down her tools and went to the main cargo hold.

She pulled a piece of fruit from the pocket of her shirt that she had stashed at lunch and began to eat. Jess had called it a pear, and had just eaten it, avoiding the core and the top and bottom of the fruit.

Rey bit into the pear, red skin soft as it was pierced by her teeth and rewarding her was a burst of sweet juice. The fruit itself was soft, and the flesh was a little bit gritty, but the less than appealing texture was made up by the flavor. Rey had eaten nothing like this before, and she savored every droplet of the juice, licking her fingers and her lips.

She sat cross legged in the middle of the Falcon’s cargo hold. She had gotten this room clean immediately after she had cleaned out the cockpit. Rey had gotten permission to do this from her uncle before she had even started. Han was getting old. He really didn’t want to get on his hands and knees to clean out his ship, even though she was one of the most precious things he had possession of, especially since he had just gotten her back.

She finished her pear, and she stood and threw the core into the Falcon’s incinerator.  As she did so, she heard a ship land on the tarmac. It was too late to be a patrol ship. They were always spot on with their arrival and departure time.

It was just one ship. No one was scheduled to land at this time. Rey knew the schedule like the back of her hand, like all of the mechanics. Who was it?

Rey felt her own dread crashing over her mind like the waves she almost fell into that afternoon. It had to be a scouting ship for the First Order. They had been found. Rey panicked.

She grabbed her staff from the corner where she had left it, and unclipped the lightsaber from her belt. She slung the staff over her shoulder and lowered the hatch. It took a lot of willpower to walk down and face the threat, but the thought of protecting her family, Poe, Finn, her aunt and uncle, her cousin, her father, all sleeping inside, made her step forward.

Rey was shaking, her thumb over the switch that would ignite her father’s lightsaber. The night took a little time for her eyes to adjust to, but when they did, Rey didn’t find a First Order shuttle.

The ship was ancient. It had blaster damage everywhere, and Rey could hardly recognize the Rebellion logo, bright orange but not flight suit orange, painted on the side decades ago. It was an X-Wing, but not a model that Rey could name. She had seen hundreds of skeletons of X-Wings while she was on Jakku. She recognized the model, but just didn’t have a name for it.

There was no alarm at the stranger’s ship. There were no soldiers rushing out. Rey shook harder. She was alone with the stranger. The hatch of the X-Wing popped open, and a man climbed out, his hands wrapped around the rungs of the metal ladder that came equipped with every model.

Rey put her staff in her left hand, switching to the weapon she knew better. Besides, the staff had more range, and if the stranger pulled a weapon on her, she would only have to run a little less than how much she would have to if she used her father’s lightsaber.

The man was wearing a flight suit, and a helmet with the standard visor that completely obscured his face. Rey cursed under her breath, willed herself to stop shaking. He reached up and unclasped the helmet, letting it hang in his hands. He took Rey in, armed to the teeth, grease and oil stains on her skin and clothes, her hair tied in three knots, and the fire and fear in her eyes. But above all, he stared at Rey’s right hand, the one white knuckling her father’s lightsaber.

The man was much older than Rey, silver hair and tired eyes. And then he spoke. “I need to see General Organa.”

Rey felt very light headed at the man's accent. The man pleaded again. “I was sent here by General Leia Organa. Please take me to her.”

“Who are you?” Rey finally asked. She could hear running footsteps approaching.

The man blinked. “I’m Commander Wedge Antilles.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn and Poe learn how much Rey hides. Luke learns how easily his family forgives him. Rey learns that no matter how long she has spent away from them, her family will always come and find her. If she doesn't have to find them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another early chapter. Man, I never should have made that posting schedule.

As soon as the man said his name and title, Rey’s knees buckled, but she managed to stay standing. She stared at the man, not really believing what he said to be true. Her mouth hung open, and she could no longer control her shaking. She leaned onto her staff, trying to keep her shaking invisible.

Then a group of people rushed onto the tarmac. Rey couldn’t turn herself away from Wedge to see who was there. 

But then Poe was there, right in front of her, grabbing her arms. She tried to wrench herself out of Poe’s grip, but there was no escaping him.

“Rey, we need to get inside,” Poe said gently, his voice low, like he knew that if he startled her any more she would flee. It was true.

“Poe,” Rey exhaled, her voice shaky. “Poe, it’s my dad.”

Poe stroked his thumb over her arm, trying to calm her. “I know, Rey. But right now, the Resistance is more worried about him being a displaced citizen then him being your dad. We need to get inside so Lieutenant Connix can get him situated with your aunt. Commander Antilles never wanted to fight in the Resistance. We need to get inside, Rey, come on.”

She went willingly, but she went reluctantly. Poe tried to keep her from looking back, to distract her from the personnel crowding around her father, but Rey did anyways, trying to find him in the crowd of people around him. 

They went inside. The halls of the base were empty. Out of nowhere, Finn came running. “Rey! Poe!” He was dressed in greys, the standard pyjamas, sweatpants and a t-shirt. “What’s wrong?”

“My dad,” Rey gasped. Her breath had been knocked out of her, and she was still trying to get it back. “My dad’s alive.”

Finn gave her a quick hug. “Rey, I felt your fear, and then your shock was powerful enough to wake me up,” Finn explained. “I thought something bad had happened.” 

She shook her head. Finn and Poe both put an arm around Rey’s trembling form. She leaned into their touch. “Can we get my other father, please?” Rey begged. She began reaching out to him before she saw Poe nod. 

Rey didn’t need to touch at the Force bond she shared with her father before he was responding with a flurry of energy. He was awake, and he knew who was here. The only thing she could understand from her father’s rapid fire response was a vague impression of ‘stay where you are.’

“Can we find somewhere to sit down?” Rey asked. She was getting her voice and her courage back, slowly, after the shock of her father’s arrival. “Papa’s on his way.” 

Finn had noticed that in the past week or so, Rey had avoided calling her father anything but Luke or Master Skywalker when he wasn’t around. Her vulnerability shown through the cracks in her facade. She hid so much, putting smiles on her face and shielding her emotions, even when she wasn’t around any other Force sensitives.

Poe nodded, ducking into the nearest commons. Surprisingly, it was empty, even at this hour. Pilots hung around here while they were waiting for shifts to start or end.

They all sat down on a couch, with the plastic coating that was going to stick to and rip at their skin when they stood. Rey leaned her head on Finn’s shoulder, and Poe felt his heart breaking as she started to cry, fat droplets rolling down her fair skin.

Poe took her hand, smoothing a thumb over her knuckles. She relaxed into his touch with a sigh. Finn slung an arm around her shoulders, holding her tight. They were grateful that Rey was alright with them touching her, as she clearly needed the physical comfort until her father came. They sat in silence, in the dim commons, until Luke burst in. 

“Padmé!” Luke called her name when he saw her with the others. Rey leapt up from where she was wedged in between Finn and Poe, startling them. She ran directly to her father, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

“Dad’s here,” Rey said, her voice muffled by the rough fabric of her father’s clothes. “Dad’s alive and I spent all this time trying to avoid that we all thought he was dead and,” Her voice cut off with a sob, and Finn and Poe turned away as Luke held her closer. 

“It’s alright,” he shushed her. “It’s alright. It’s okay, Rey.” She never knew which name he was going to call her by, but either was alright. Luke calling her Padmé meant just as much to her as her father calling her Rey. Her father was there to call her by her names.

Poe cleared his throat. “Do you want us to give you some privacy?”

Rey looked up and turned to face the others. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her face wet, and she shook her head. Letting go of her father, Rey took several steps and let her friends embrace her. 

Poe’s commlink went off, startling the already distressed Rey. He stepped back from the group, reading the transmission that he had received. He looked at Luke over Rey and Finn’s shoulders. “It’s from Lieutenant Connix. The General is summoning you and your daughter to the main control room, Master Skywalker.”

Luke shuddered with his fear as Rey pulled herself from her friends, drying her eyes on her dirty sleeves. “Come on, Papa. Let’s go.” 

He never wanted to see his daughter like this. He didn’t want to see her despair and her sorrow, and he wanted to hold her tight until she didn’t feel those awful emotions, until she felt safe. He took his daughter’s hand and they made their way to the main control room.

There was something buzzing in the back of Rey’s mind, not unlike the feeling she felt before the rock crumbled underneath her when she was meditating that afternoon. But this felt better, not like a headache, but more like when she fixed the compressor on the Falcon, her uncle staring at her in bewildered amusement. 

They found themselves in front of the door, with no recollection of how long it took to get there or if they ran into any Resistance personnel. No one had stopped them.

Luke felt like crying. Not over the thought of seeing his husband, but at the feeling of Padmé’s hand shaking in his. She hadn’t seen her father in a decade and a half, the same length of time that Luke hadn’t seen him, but she had been five standard years old when the Academy went up in flames. Luke had been thirty nine years old, and had know Wedge for almost half of his life.

The door slid open, neither of them having touched it. Leia stood on the other side of the threshold. It looked like she had been crying too, dark circles staining her skin. “I could feel that you were there.”

Luke let go of Rey’s hand to hug his sister. “I’m not ready, Leia. I don’t know how I can face him. I left him.”

She held her brother tighter. “You will be alright, Luke. He wants to see you.”

Luke stiffened. “Does he know about Rey?”

She didn’t say anything, only shaking her head slightly. She stepped back from her brother, slipping into the General persona again. “It’s the middle of the night. Let’s get this over with, so all of us, Commander Antilles included, can get some sleep. But Luke, if you aren’t ready, I will have Wedge sent off to a set of quarters so when you are ready, you can meet.”

He took a breath and nodded, grabbing his daughter’s hand before stepping into the room after his sister. Rey followed close behind, reaching up to her hair with her free hand and pushing the loose strands behind her ears with trembling fingers.

Luke shut his eyes before they could adjust to the darkness of the room. He wasn’t sure if the trembling he felt was Rey or himself. He heard a voice telling him to breathe in his head. It was Rey, through their bond. He exhaled heavily, and opened his eyes. 

It was Wedge, no doubt. The same nose, the same dark, expressive eyes, the same rise and fall of his chest. They had gotten old when they were apart, Luke thought, and immediately felt his eyes water. He let go of Rey’s hand. 

“Wedge,” Luke said. The other man shuddered, took in Luke like it was the first time he had ever seen the younger man. Wedge took in the beard, the worn robes, the hair that couldn’t decide if it was blond or grey. 

“Luke,” Wedge said, keeping his voice even. He glanced over at the young mechanic who had entered with his husband. She had been the first to see him here. Why did his sister in law send for her along with Luke?

They stood there for several moments, taking each other in, before Wedge stepped forwards. Luke took a step. Wedge took a step, and Luke took a step, and this repeated until the two men were arms length apart. His eyes hadn’t changed. If Luke squinted, nothing had changed. 

And then Luke fell into Wedge, all his fears and anxieties forgotten. The men held each other, Luke’s face pressed into Wedge’s collarbone, and somehow it felt like when they were so much younger, on Endor, after the second Death Star. Neither of them had known that the other was alive. They had been in love for two years at that point. It had seemed like forever, and that they had endured all the hardships that they could possibly encounter. Force, they were wrong.

“I’m so sorry,” Luke said, muffled into his husband’s chest. Moisture began to drip onto the top of Luke’s head, and he realized with a burst of shame that he had made his husband cry. “Please forgive me, Wedge.”

Wedge took a step back from Luke, putting his hands on his shoulders. “I already have, Luke. I know why you left. I don’t agree, but I understand.” 

Luke cried out softly. “Wedge, I’m sorry.”

Wedge pulled Luke back to him, ignoring everyone else in the room. “It’s alright. We lost our daughter. You needed to grieve. You needed time.”

Luke shook his head the best he could. “That’s not it,” he said. “I should have stayed with you. Should’ve let us get over the Academy together.”

Rey watched her fathers reunite, her vision growing blurry as her eyes filled with tears again. These were her parents, her flesh and blood, the people that her grandmother and her great-grandmother had been telling her about. The men who tried too hard to be good, as her namesake had described them. She felt her grandmother smile at her, even though she wasn’t there, nor was her grandfather. 

Wedge hushed Luke. “It’s okay. It’s all in the past and there’s nothing we can do to change it. All that matters to me is that you’re home.”

Luke laughed into his husband’s chest, still crying, but laughing. “Kriff, I love you,” he mumbled.

Wedge smiled, tearstained face contorting in his joy. “I know, I love you too.” He looked up at Rey, standing awkwardly in the corner of the room. Leia had vanished. Wedge squinted, tilted his head a little before turning back to Luke.

“Who is she?”

Luke stepped back from his husband, looking over his shoulder at Rey, the hair tied the way that Luke had done it when she was young, dressed in desert clothing, grease stains from working on ships all day.  He took a breath before turning back to Wedge. 

“That night, at the Academy,” Luke started, his voice getting shakier by the second, “There was a survivor that I didn’t know about. Ben, er, Kylo took her and hid her on a planet that the First Order wouldn’t touch for fourteen years.”

Wedge blinked, and Luke could feel the confusion and hope rising in his husband’s heart. “Luke, who is she?” Wedge looked at Rey. “Who are you?”

Rey swallowed hard. She tried to find her voice but couldn’t. Thankfully, her father spoke before she could pull the words together. She didn’t know what she would have said if she could. She felt like she was falling, like that afternoon if her papa had been only a tiny bit slower.

“Wedge, she’s Padmé,” Luke said, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of him. “Padmé made it out alive.”

Wedge’s mouth fell open, and he swore he felt something pop in his jaw.

Leaving Luke’s side, he approached Rey like she was a deer, timid, likely to flee at sudden movements. But Rey didn’t want to flee, not now, not with both of her fathers in the room, together as a family for the first time in a decade and a half.

“Padmé?” Wedge said, saying her name closer to a breath than him actually saying it. Rey shook like a leaf. Wedge put a hand up to Rey’s face, wanting to cradle her head like he did when she was very young, but hesitant to actually touch her, in case he startled her.

“Dad,” Rey gasped, the word catching on the accent she shared with her father. The buzzing in her head had crested and fallen, leaving only her own emotions behind.

She leaned into Wedge’s touch, bracing herself and shutting her eyes so she didn’t cry. Wedge gasped, looking at this girl who had his mouth, Luke’s nose, and suddenly he was looking at the little girl who he said goodbye to, to never see again, almost fifteen years before. He still had their last family picture in the hololocket around his neck.

Wedge pulled his daughter into a hug, and, despite her efforts, Rey burst into tears. “ I watched the First Order destroy the Hosnian system from Takodana, and Aunt Leia told us that you were living there. Dad, I thought you were dead.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you’re all grown up, and I thought  _ you _ were dead,” Wedge said. He bit back a laugh at the thought that after everything they were alive, and he waved Luke over. “Luke, come here. You have been gone for too long to be standing over there.”

Luke and Wedge held their daughter, the three of them laughing and crying at the same time. At that moment, the Antilles-Skywalkers were whole again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I was writing this (during a study period at school) my English teacher called me over to tell me that a piece I was planning to submit to a national contest was literally my best piece of work and it made him tear up a couple times. I spent the rest of the time writing this in a daze because that short story was actually a really self indulgent piece that I wrote to help myself come to terms with the past and I didn't think it would get me anywhere and his comments took me by surprise. So if there are any errors, that's why.
> 
> Also, I spent a ridiculous amount of time on the Star Wars wiki trying to figure out how old Luke would have been when the Academy burned.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shows up a month late with starbucks*  
> Whoops. NaNoWrMo kicked my ass, work is kicking my ass, and writers' block is kicking my ass.   
> I hope you enjoy some actual plot!

Ben Solo was lost. The higher ups had finally finished vetting him, and the doctors had decided that he was still too mentally unstable from his years of manipulation and imprisonment in the First Order to work, or fight, for the Resistance. 

But his mother had pulled some strings and allowed for him to stay with them. That was alright, seeing as he didn’t want to leave. If Snoke knew he was alive, which he probably did know that he hadn’t died in the explosion, he would want to send as many troops as he could expend to find his prized Jedi Killer. 

Ben knew it was a selfish thought to want to stay, endangering everyone he held dear, family, childhood friends. 

It was also selfish to think of his colleagues, his friends, if he could call them that. What fate had met Hux, and Phasma, and the other Knights? Before they had turned, they had been his closest friends. Had any of them survived Starkiller? Ben rid himself of the thought, bringing himself back to the real world. 

He had been given another chance. He was going to use it to do the right thing. His fingers fiddled with the hems of the new clothes he had received. They were off white, baggy cream colored shirt and pants, darker vest. He had tied his hair back into a knot, trying to look like Ben Solo again. It had been fourteen years since he had truly been himself. 

Ben found himself walking outside of the base, down a trail that lead into the craggy mountains. He didn’t like being near others, especially since he felt that every time someone spared a glance in his direction that they  _ knew.  _ That they knew that Ben Solo hadn’t been held prisoner on Starkiller, that they knew what he had done. Innocent civilians. Entire planets. A school.

He wandered farther into the mountains. Ben had sensed his uncle and cousin walking these trails many times during the vetting process. Luke had taken Rey out here to teach her how to use the Force. As far as Ben could tell, he hadn’t taught her the outdated methodologies of the Jedi. Maybe he had learned something in his solitude. 

Ben chastised himself. The thought was uncalled for. The air began to chill, the scent of sea air growing stronger and stronger. It filled his lungs, calming whatever anxieties had been building in Ben’s head. 

He came across a landing. It jutted out over the sea, the view revealing swaths of blue. The edge of the landing was sharp and crumbled. Something powerful had happened here. The spot wasn’t especially strong with the Force, Ben noticed, but someone who was had been here, had altered the landscape. 

Ben sat down cross legged, and tried to meditate. He breathed in time with the waves crashing below, willing his mind blank. There was no thought of the First Order, or of the Jedi, or the Resistance, of his betrayal of his family. He found his mind blissfully quiet. 

And then someone burst out from the trail. 

Rey could be incredibly quiet if she wanted to be. She was also unusually skilled at shielding her Force signature. Ben lept to his feet when she startled him.

“What do you want?” Ben asked, trying very hard not to snap at her. 

“There’s a problem,”  Rey sighed. “Finn’s Force sensitive. Luke told me that himself. His Force signature looks like yours. But Papa refuses to teach him. Or tell him that he has that power. And if the First Order comes, which they will, Finn won’t be able to help us fight them. And Papa refuses to teach me anything more than meditating and lifting pebbles. Ben, when they come, we’ll be crushed. Please, help me teach Finn how to use the Force.”

Ben thought. Rey continued. “I know that Finn is being trained to be a pilot. I’ve been trying to find a way to teach him what I know. But the truth is that I don’t know much at all, let alone how to teach it. Ben, I need your help.”

He sighed. “Fine. I will only teach you two how to use the Force. Not as a weapon, not the Dark side, nothing with that damned lightsaber. I don’t think I can trust myself with a lightsaber right now.”

She ignored the last sentence, and she grinned. “Thank you.” She turned to leave, but Ben stopped her. 

“Rey, what happened here?”She shrugged. “Papa uses this place to meditate, and most times I’m there too. Why?”

“The very ground has been shaped by the Force. Something powerful happened here. I think you could tell me what.” Ben cringed. He didn’t mean to sound so manipulative. 

“The day Dad came home,” Rey started. Ben grimaced. He had been avoiding his other uncle, for fear of repeating what had happened when he had reunited with Luke. Ben ran a hand over his browbone as Rey continued. “Papa and I were out meditating here. I was trying not to think of Dad and how he was most likely dead. And then the ground fell out from under me and if Papa hadn’t been any slower, I’d be in the water.”

Rey was powerful, there was no doubting that. But crumbling rock without meaning to, while meditating? It was insane. She needed to be trained. “If I work with Finn to use the Force, will you accept teaching?”

She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. “I already said I needed to be taught. Ben, as much as it hurts me, I need a teacher.”

Ben nodded, and Rey turned to run back down the trail. She looked over her shoulder at her cousin and stopped. “Thank you,” She said, the accent catching on the sound, genuine gratitude evident. 

He smiled, and she did, and then she was gone. Ben settled down, crossing his legs and slipping into a trance.

* * *

 

Rey rushed onto the tarmac, dozens of X-Wings surrounding her. She needed to find Finn, tell him the news. They had discussed this last night, away from their work squads, away from any listening ears. 

Finn had been hesitant. Of course he would be. Ben, as Kylo, had been the one to lead the First Order under Snoke, and Finn had been a victim. 

But he wanted to learn. Holding Luke’s lightsaber on Takodana had felt right. Something otherworldly had allowed him to slip by reconditioning, and the same thing had guided him when he was shooting in the Falcon on Jakku. 

Rey saw him, stepping out of an X-Wing, Poe and BB-8 crowded around the base. He didn’t have the standard flight suit on, but instead, he had Poe’s jacket, and what looked like one of his cream colored shirts. She hesitated before she ran over towards them. 

BB-8 greeted her with their chirps. Poe grinned, clapping Finn on the back. “How’re you doing, Rey?” Poe greeted.

“I’m doing good. Luke gave me today off from training. I was going to talk to Finn about an idea I had.”

Poe smiled at her and Finn. “Are you guys adjusting okay? I’ve been meaning to check up on you guys, but we’ve all been so busy.”

Rey ran her hand through her hair. “I’ve been doing okay. There’s still some getting used to but I’m faring well.”

Finn nodded. “I’m doing alright as well. Poe, you’ve been a great help.”

The older man blushed, the color a little more obvious on his olive skin tone. “Thanks, buddy,” Poe said, flustered. Finn was suddenly taken aback at how pretty Poe was, black hair ruffled and disheveled from his helmet, the faintest dusting of freckles across his nose, the blush across his cheekbones.

Finn didn’t know what to do with the attraction he had to Poe. And on the topic of attraction, he didn’t know what to do with the attraction he felt towards Rey either. She was pretty, her clever hazel eyes, the soft skin of her hands that betrayed her years of hard work, the no nonsense attitude she carried, but the kindness she shared with her family and friends. 

Thankfully, Finn’s dark skin hid the color of his face flushing hot, but he missed the question that Rey had posed them. “Huh?”

“I said, I wanted to go exploring with you two,” Rey said. “Outside of working and training with Luke, I haven’t gotten a chance to look around.”

Poe clapped his hands. “That sounds like a great idea, Rey. I’ve got off this afternoon, and so does Finn. Where would you want to go?”

Rey thought, surrounded by the noise and the bustle of the tarmac. “I want to go to the water.”

Neither him or Finn were surprised by this. Rey had grown up in a desert. Finn nodded in agreement with Rey. “I want to see it too.”

She smiled, putting a hand to her belt. “I’m going to go fill up my canteen, and I’ll come right back, I promise.”

Not five minutes later, they were setting off down a path that was going to take them to the ocean. Poe took the lead, followed closely by BB-8. They were especially clingy to Poe after his First Order encounter.

Rey and Finn followed close behind. Finn had Poe’s jacket again, and a blaster strapped to his thigh. No one seemed to think it dangerous to keep the ex-stormtrooper armed, but Finn kept the thought out of his mind. Rey still had her staff with her, but in the past few weeks, she had less reason to use it as a weapon, its original purpose, and more reason to use it as a walking stick. 

The path was much easier than the one that Rey and Luke used to get to their training spot, Rey realized. It sloped gently downhill, soft dirt instead of stone. It lead through a forest, not dense, so sunlight streamed through the leaves, casting everything in shades of green. The native wildlife chattered, unafraid of the intruders. BB-8 chattered off information, revealing that this planet had been uninhabited for centuries. 

BB-8 slipped, rolling into a gully just off the path. Poe cursed under his breath and ran towards his droid. Finn and Rey scrambled to help, but Poe waved them aside. He heaved BB-8 out of the ditch, murmuring in a language that neither Finn or Rey understood. He knelt next to the droid, brushing dirt off of their body. 

Poe stood, brushing the soil off of his knees, and turned back down the path. “Let’s get going, guys.”

“Right behind you, Poe,” Finn said, grabbing Rey’s hand. Strangely, she didn’t mind, and they followed Poe down to the water. 

Rey gasped when the ocean came into view. The water stretched out farther than she could see, perfect blue like the lightsaber she carried. Waves lapped against the pebble beach, foaming white and crashing gently. 

She let go of Finn’s hand and ran past Poe and BB-8, towards the water. She stripped off her boots and socks, and let the waves lap at her feet and ankles. “I’ve never seen so much water in one place!” Rey laughed as another wave washed over her feet. Poe grinned and went to join her, and Finn did the same. BB-8 stayed at the top of the beach, chattering about fried circuits. 

Rey kicked water at Finn, who retaliated by splashing her. Soon the three of them were all soaking wet, having forgotten about the walk back to base. In those moments, Rey forgot that she had ever gone thirsty when there was so much water in the galaxy. She bent down and cupped some of the water, perfect blue, in her hands and brought it to her lips. 

Finn and Poe noticed this. “Rey! No! Don’t drink it!” They yelled, waving their hands at their friend. But it was too late. The perfect water was too enticing, and Rey drank it.

And she spit it out, hacking in disgust. “What the hell?”

“It’s saltwater, Rey,” Finn said.

Poe nodded. “You can’t drink it.”

Her mouth fell open, her brows furrowed in disgust. “So much water, and I can’t even drink it? How cruel is this universe?” 

And then she slipped, landing on her butt with a splash. It was music, laughter and crashing waves. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This probably should have been edited. Some dialogue might seem out of character, and I don't know what it's like to come out as trans. 
> 
> However, I hope you enjoy!

Rey met up with Finn and Ben on the tarmac after her shift the next day. Ben looked more and more like the cousin she remembered from her childhood, wearing his hair up and out of his eyes, losing the sharp angles of his face. Ben was subdued, shrinking into himself around others, and neither Rey or Finn had to look too far to see the guilt in his eyes. 

Rey ignored this for now. She had more pressing issues to deal with: Keeping Finn and Poe safe, catching up with both of her fathers, becoming the first of a new breed of Jedi. 

Finn smiled at her as she approached them. He had Poe’s jacket on, but when he saw her, he took it off and gave it to her. The rest of the clothes were obviously Poe’s but Rey kept her mouth shut. “We’re going to head up into the mountains,” Finn explained. “It’s gonna get cold.”

“Thank you,” Rey said, slinging the worn leather over her shoulders, the feeling becoming more and more welcome every time she wore Poe’s jacket. Ben didn’t say anything, but he turned towards the trail that led to the stone beach. Finn and Rey shared a glance before falling behind the older man. 

Rey tightened her mental shields unconsciously. Her body tensed, teeth gritted, and her face contorted with displeasure and fear. She didn’t know she was doing it until Finn reached out, gentle hand pressing against hers, white knuckling her staff. 

Finn looked worried, his forehead creased, brows drawn, compassion written all over his body language. Rey relaxed, but fear still coursed through her veins. What would happen if Ben turned on them now? They were miles away from anyone who could help them. 

As soon as Rey thought this, Ben turned around, the guilt still evident in his eyes. “I’ve been here for weeks,” He muttered. “If I wanted to betray you and your fathers and my parents again, I would have done it already.” 

Rey and Finn glanced at their feet. It did nothing to stop Rey’s fears, but now she had a little bit of proof that they were safe. The three of them spilled out onto the beach, Rey sighing in a breath of salty air. They kept walking towards the cliffs that jutted out over the water. 

The rocky beach turned slowly to sand, and the sun began to fall towards the sea. Finn and Rey scrambled to a halt when Ben stopped suddenly and looked up towards the cliff edge. “You collapsed the rock here, correct?” He asked, tone firm and not unlike Kylo Ren. 

“I did.” 

“Once I get started with Finn, I’m going to have you pull the pieces out of the water. Are you capable of that?”

Rey blinked. Was she? She thought for a moment before she answered her cousin. “I am.”

“Alright. Let’s get started.”

The afternoon passed quickly. Ben taught Finn how to mediate. Draw his body and his mind into the Force, recognize lifeforms, Force sensitive or not. He taught Rey to not underestimate her strength. He reminded her that she had already beaten him, when she was untrained. Rey grinned and doubled her efforts with lifting the stone out of the water. 

The walk back to base was full of laughter and brightness. No one saw them return, and no one questioned where they were. Rey bid Finn and Ben goodnight, and slipped into the shared room with Jess, silent as to not wake the sleeping pilot. The moon rose and began to fall.

* * *

 

Jessika’s breathing was soft and even. Rey lay on her back on the other side of the quarters they shared. Sharing living space was still so foreign. She sat up, kicking the covers off of her legs and she stood. There was going to be no sleeping tonight, she knew it. The strange bittersweet melancholy she felt through the Force was keeping her awake. 

Rey grabbed her staff and Poe’s jacket from where they were slung in a corner and shut the door quietly behind her. There were some repairs she needed to do in the Falcon that she was saving for the morning, but she might as well get them out of the way. 

The halls were empty, darkness making the stone walls even greyer, colder with the mountain air. Rey shivered, slinging Poe’s jacket over her shoulders as she made her way to the ship bay. 

The cold air hit her with a blast as she stepped out of the building. Pulling the jacket closer to her skin, Rey made her way to the Falcon. 

Even though she was old, older than anyone on base could account for, the ship was still beautiful. Creaking and settling, it was like the ship was talking to her. Rey shut her eyes for a moment, listening to the Falcon greet her, letting the melancholy that had gotten stronger wash over her. But there were voices, and Rey realized there were people sitting on top of the ship out of her sight.

People were sitting on top of the Falcon. There was the clink of glass, and the sound of pouring liquid into containers. Rey had to hide her disgust and anger, even though no one was around to see it. These people were perched on a ship that wasn’t theirs, getting drunk. 

But then one of them noticed that she was there. They got to their feet with a groan and climbed down the hatch that lead them inside the ship. Rey stiffened and put a hand on her staff as the main hatch lowered and the person revealed themself to her. 

It was her father. Rey relaxed as she stepped towards him. He smiled at her, the prosthetic hand with its broken parts and dents waving. He refused to get it fixed. Rey knew she had inherited his stubbornness.

“Rey, come and join us.” Luke said to his daughter. Rey put away the staff and followed her father. 

Luke stopped in the galley of the Falcon, grabbing a glass. He turned to Rey. “Today’s special to me and your aunt and uncle. Before the Academy, we would always celebrate the anniversary of when we all met. But this is a sad day for your aunt. Although she found us, she lost her home and her people.”

When her father said this, Rey realized that the melancholy that she had been feeling was radiating from the General. “I feel her sadness.” Rey spoke up. “I couldn’t sleep because of it.”

Luke smiled at his daughter, and the sadness touched his eyes. “Some of the sadness is mine. I regret many of my actions, and leaving my family behind was one of them. But I was scared, little one, and I ran instead of explaining the lies that I had told. I missed so much. You’re all grown.”

Rey looked at her feet. She wanted to cry, but the ingrained truth of moisture loss forbid her. “We can’t change it, Papa.”

“Han and Leia are waiting for us.” Luke said, changing the subject and leaving the galley. Rey followed him up the stairwell and back into the cold mountain air. Her aunt and uncle turned to face her when she emerged behind her father.

“Rey, so good for you to join us,”  Leia said. She had been leaning into her husband, and in the starlight, Rey could see the tear tracks running down her aunt’s face. Han pulled her closer into his side, and he smiled something nostalgic at his niece.

Luke sat down next to his sister, leaving Rey standing awkwardly behind them. Leia grabbed the glass that Luke took and poured it full of a green liquid that swirled with silver particles. Han laughed.

“Boozing her up, Leia?” He asked. “She hasn’t even sat down yet!” 

Rey froze as the three turned to look back at her. Luke patted the roof of the Falcon next to him. “Sit, Rey. Your aunt is offering drink.”

Rey sat next to her father, tucking her legs under her body. Leia passed the glass to Rey. “This is some of the last wine made on my home planet. It’s probably easier for you to take then the stuff Han’s drinking.”

Han groaned, knocking back more of his own drink, this one golden brown. “Sweetheart, I’m offering her actual alcohol.”

“I’ll try Leia’s first,” Rey offered, shying away from the conflict she thought she saw. “Then I’ll try yours.”

Her aunt and uncle shared a look. “Rey, you don’t have to try either of them if you don’t want to.”

Rey shied into herself, taking a sip from the glass. The taste was metallic but sweet. Rey gagged at the sudden sharpness. Coughing as she swallowed, she turned away. She took another drink. This time it was better, now that she was expecting how it tasted. 

She looked up at the stars, gripping the glass with one hand and wrapping the other arm around her knees. The metal was cold and uncomfortable under her, but her family was there. Rey took another drink. The liquid coursed down her throat, filling her with warmth. She watched as her aunt looked into the sky, searching for something. 

Luke spoke up gently. “Have you found it?” 

Leia turned to her brother, a fresh wave of silent tears falling. She nodded, turning her gaze back to the sky. Rey looked where she was, only seeing stars. They were bright despite the lights of the base. She thought of the nights on Jakku with a shudder, leaning into her father. 

“Aunt Leia,” Rey spoke up, “What are you looking for?”

Leia chuckled, a single laugh that held back so much more emotion. “When I was about as old as you are now, if not younger, the Empire destroyed my home planet and made me watch. My people, my family, went up in flames and I had to watch. We’re so far away from where it was right now, the light from the explosion still hasn’t reached us.” Leia took a breath, trying very hard to remain composed, and pointed at a single star, beautiful and bright. “It’s hard not to feel like… If I just fly toward that spot, it’ll still be there.”

She leaned into her husband, and Han put an arm around her and held her tight as she drank more of her wine. “It’s been thirty four years since I’ve been home, and yet people still insist on calling me Princess.”

Luke took his sister’s hand. “They will always be with you,” He said, as if it was something that was overdue. He straightened suddenly, remembering something he needed to do. “Han, Leia,” He started, drawing Rey into their conversation. “I always told you that Wedge and I wanted to keep Rey’s full name a secret because of the belief in my culture to hide one’s real name. Freed slaves did it, kept their own names but took on a new one. I think it’s time we told you your niece’s name.”

Rey looked up. She knew her own name, and that she was named after her grandmother. Luke looked to her. “Rey, do you want to tell them, or should I?”

She swallowed the wine that was in her mouth, beginning to feel a tingling under her skin. “I’ll do it, Papa.” Rey looked at her aunt and her uncle, finding her voice. “My full name is Padmé Breha Antilles Skywalker.”

Her aunt’s eyes widened. She buried her face in her hands as she started to cry in earnest. Han stared at Luke with confusion and some anger. “You named her Breha,” Leia gasped when she emerged. “You named her Breha.”

Luke nodded. “Wedge and I decided that we wanted to name our child after people who died before their time. If you had been a boy,” Luke turned to face his daughter, “We would have named you Cassian Biggs.”

Leia hadn’t stopped crying, but she turned to Rey as if to offer explanation. “My adoptive mother and father died when the planet exploded. My mother’s name was Breha.”

“I named you after royalty, two of the most powerful women that I have ever had the honor to hear stories of,” Luke said. “They also happen to be family, at least in some sense of the word. Leia, are Rey and I allowed to call your mother family?”

“Luke, I believe that if it weren’t for the best to separate and hide us, my parents would have taken us both in,” Leia nodded, wiping her face. “Our birth mother even told me that she would have wanted them raising us. They would have loved you, Luke, and my mother would be proud to have a namesake like you, Padmé.”

Rey smiled and finished the glass of wine. “Thank you, Aunt Leia.” The night was getting colder, as a wind that came from the sea swept through the mountains. She drew Poe’s jacket tighter around her body, hoping to block out the wind. Leia knew who the jacket belonged to and raised an eyebrow at her niece. 

“We share the jacket,” Rey explained, trying to defend her feelings. “Me, Finn, and Poe, that is.”

“I’m not accusing you of stealing it,” Leia said. Han smirked next to her. “It’s just that I’ve known Poe Dameron for a long time. I know that he only shares clothing with people he likes. He’s always wanted a pilot’s jacket. I just didn’t take you to be his type.”

Rey scoffed. “Well, I don’t like him like that.”

“I said that about someone else before you were born,” Leia laughed. Rey tightened her emotional shields. It was true that she found Poe Dameron charming. But she felt the same way about Jess, and one of the other mechanics who she saw every so often. But if she had to say that she liked someone, it would be Finn, the sweet young man who brought even more chaos into her life, brought her into the arms of her family. 

But Rey ignored all of this. Instead, she leaned towards her father, silently asking her aunt for more of the wine. Luke was smiling, not even the sad Skywalker one, but really, truly happy. Leia poured more of the sparkling liquid into Rey’s glass, and looked back to the sky. 

“Are we having an official celebration on the anniversary?” Luke asked, referring the question to his sister and brother in law. “Of the Death Star, I mean.”

Han nodded. “If there’s one thing the Resistance can do, it’s throwing a memorial party.”

Luke smiled again, this time not the happy one, but the melancholic one. “It’s good to be back. I could hardly bear the anniversary alone.”

Leia blinked back more tears. Rey shied away from this conversation, knowing that it didn’t involve her and how quiet her father was about his vulnerability. The four of them fell into silence for a while, Rey shrinking back into herself and watching the stars shine down on them.

“Papa?” Rey asked. Luke turned away from his sister to face his daughter. “Was I adopted?”

Luke turned back to Han and Leia and bit his lip before he answered. “No. You are my daughter, biologically. You are Wedge’s daughter, biologically.”

Rey seemed puzzled by this, but then she perked up. “Oh, either you or Dad are transgender. Jess Pava taught me about that. She’s trans too.”

There was a moment of silence. And then Luke laughed. “I never thought I was going to be able to come out to you. And when I found out you were alive, I thought I couldn’t tell you, because I know what people are like on isolated desert planets.”

Luke looked down at his feet, and then back to his daughter. He put an arm around his child, and drew her closer to him. “I love you, sunrise.”

“I love you too, Papa.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the chapter in which you can see that the author has never been in a relationship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wanted to get this written before The Last Jedi came out. That didn't happen.  
> Then I decided I wanted to get this posted before I went to see The Last Jedi. That didn't happen either.  
> Here you go!

The next day it rained. Rey woke up late, the long night before had taken its toll on her, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had affected her father. When she went to find him for training, he smiled but shook his head. 

“We aren’t training today,” Luke said. His eyes seemed brighter blue, as the whites were red and watery. “I’ve been working you so hard, and it’s time for you to spend time with your friends.”

Rey looked at her father, shielding the guilt deep behind her guards. He couldn’t know that she was training with her cousin and Finn in her free time. But he didn’t notice the strain she was putting into her shields, and she flew by. “Thank you, Papa,” She said. She noticed her other father in the room. Wedge was fast asleep in Luke’s bed. 

Luke stepped out into the hall, shutting the door quietly behind him. “Tonight, there’s going to be a party of sorts, a memorial. If you want to come, you are welcome, but if you don’t, you are free to stay here.”

Rey tilted her head. She remembered her aunt and uncle talking about this the previous night. “Where is it going to be?”

“They’re clearing out a hangar to hold it in. There’ll be a lot of people there, I’m just warning you,” Luke looked genuinely concerned. Sometimes Rey forgot that she really had a family, that these people truly cared. 

“I think I’ll go. When is it?”

“It starts at sundown. Do you want to meet me on the tarmac about half an hour earlier?” Luke asked his daughter. She nodded, and Luke put his flesh hand on her arm, just above her elbow. “I’ll see you then. I’m heading out to the mountain landing to meditate. I’ll be back before Dad wakes, don’t worry.”

“Bye, Papa,” Rey said, watching her father leave. When he was gone, she noticed the sounds coming from above her. It sounded like something was barraging the roof with pebbles. She scrambled back towards her own room to get her staff.

She ran into Poe on her way there. He caught her as she hit him, and when he took in the panicked look on her face, he pulled her aside towards a storage unit. “Rey,” Poe said, trying to keep her calm, like when Wedge came back, “What’s the matter?”

Rey furrowed her brow. Poe didn’t seem distressed at all by the noise. “It sounds like something’s attacking the roof, and no one is concerned at all.”

Poe ran a hand through his tousled hair with a laugh of relief. “Rey, come with me. I’ve got something to show you. We’re not under attack, I promise.”

Rey followed Poe as he led her through hallways to the main entrance of the base. She realized with a start that she was still wearing his jacket, and she took it off and gave it back to him. He stared at Rey for a moment, before looking down at the jacket and slinging it over his broad shoulders. “Thank you, Rey, but you didn’t have to give it back straight away.”

“I know,” Rey said, blushing a tiny bit. “What do you have to show me?”

Poe grinned, not his smirk, but his boyish smile that he only showed around Finn, Rey, BB, his father or the General. “It’s raining.” Poe pulled the door open, revealing the grey skies and the tiny drops of liquid falling from them. 

Rey squinted before stepping out of the door. There was an awning protecting her from the drops, but she ventured out towards the edge of the awning. Behind her, Finn had stumbled upon them as he was heading out to the hangar. Flight training had been canceled for him as well, due to the memorial party being held in one of them. 

Rey stuck her hand out into the rain, gasping quietly as the cold liquid hit her skin. Poe and Finn watched, Poe shushing Finn to keep from ruining the serenity of the moment. And then Rey whooped and ran out into the rain. “Water falls from the sky?” She laughed, throwing her arms out to catch more of the water. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Finn ran out to Rey, and the two laughed, dancing around in the water. Poe watched, a tingling feeling spreading through his chest. Rey kicked at a puddle that was quickly forming, splashing Finn. He was wearing one of Poe’s old shirts. Most of Finn’s clothing was a hand me down from Poe, but Poe didn’t mind. He liked seeing the younger man in his old clothes, even if it was only subconscious.

They stayed there for ten minutes, Rey and Finn dancing soaking wet, Poe watching flustered, and then Finn slipped. 

Poe ran out to try to help, but Rey caught him, and Poe watched as Finn stared up at Rey and then all of a sudden Finn was pressing a kiss to her mouth and Poe felt like he was going to vomit. 

Finn didn’t mean to kiss her. Rey was pulling him to his feet and his face bumped into hers but now she was blushing and his face felt hot against the cold rain and suddenly he wished the rain was gone so he could be in the X-Wing, away from this. He thought he liked Poe, and didn’t people only like one gender or another, never both or more?

Rey didn’t mean to kiss Finn. She liked him, but she also had feelings for the hotshot pilot standing watching them. She watched, out of the corners of her eyes, as Poe ran a hand through his hair and moved towards the rain. The feeling of shock and sadness had radiated out from him, a clear difference from his happiness from moments before. Finn read onto it as well. 

“Guys,” Poe called out, sounding unphased, “You’re going to catch cold, come on, let’s get inside.”

He was acting like he didn’t see what had happened. Rey and Finn were solemn, and as Rey came back under the awning, she shivered in realization. The water had been frigid, and she was soaked through. 

The rain picked up strength, and white hot light flashed behind the mountains. The accompanying boom rang out through the valleys and passes, rattling the base. Rey jumped, water falling off of her. Finn grabbed her arms, trying to keep her still.

“It’s just thunder,” He explained to her. Poe felt his stomach churn, but as he looked at her, she shivered harder, and Poe found himself taking off his jacket again and slinging it over Rey’s shoulders. 

“You don’t need to give it back,” He told her. “Let’s get you two warmed up.” Poe led Finn and Rey inside, directing them to their rooms so they could get a towel. No one in the Resistance looked twice at the three of them, Rey sopping wet onto the concrete floors, wearing Poe’s jacket, Finn with his hands on her shoulders, Poe looking off into the middle distance, not acknowledging where he was going. 

The thunder rumbled again. 

Rey went to open her door but someone opened the door from the other side. It was Jess Pava, and she seemed relieved to see Poe. “Hey, Rey. Poe, you’re going to the memorial party tonight, right?”

Poe nodded behind Rey. “I go every year, Jess.”

She shrugged. “Just making sure, boss. Finn, Rey, are you two going?”

Rey thought for a moment, before nodding. She wanted to spend time with her fathers, even though Luke had told her to take the day to spend with her friends. There were people she wanted to remember, even if no one else ever known them. 

“I am going,” Finn said. If anyone asked if he had waited for Rey’s answer before making up his mind, he would lie and say he didn’t. 

“Good. I’ll see you two there. Rey, I’ll grab you a towel. You look like you’re freezing. Poe, was it really a good idea to show her the rain?”

“It made her happy, didn’t it?” Poe asked, directing the rhetorical question to Rey.

“It really did, Poe, thank you,” She said, still shivering, but a smile on her face. She seemed so much like her father and her aunt, with that same smile, the one that was sort of sad underneath, but still happy. 

Poe turned to leave, as did Finn, seeing as their rooms were down another hallway. Rey grabbed Poe’s wrist softly, and both men stopped. “I need to talk to you two later. Before the party, meet me in the commons by the tarmac?”

Finn nodded. Poe didn’t know what to say. He glanced between Finn and Rey several times. He took a deep breath before he answered. “I’ll be there, Rey.”

And they were gone, and Rey was left in her room, still shivering, soaking wet. Jess came back with a thin towel, and Rey took it willingly. She scrubbed the water from her hair, tangling it, but drying it all the same.

“What’s the deal with those two? You all seem so glum,” Jess said. She was patting some kind of liquid pigment onto her skin, evening the color. 

“Poe took me out to show me the rain, and Finn came out, and the two of us were out dancing in the rain.” Rey took a breath. “Finn slipped, and I caught him. But when I tried to pull him to his feet, we accidentally kissed. Poe’s obviously upset. I don’t know what to do.”

Jess put a hand on Rey’s shoulder. “Poe’s a fool.”

Rey looked up at her, eyes flashing with confusion. Jess smiled at her. “I know Poe better than most of the people on this base,” Jess explained. “When he likes somebody, he gives them his clothing. He’s bi, you know. He tries very hard to make the object of his affections happy. He doesn’t even know he’s doing it, he just does it subconsciously.”

“So, Poe either likes me or Finn,” Rey said. The only people who wore Poe’s clothing were her and her first friend. Jess laughed. 

“Oh, Rey, you’re so adorable when you’re confused,” Jess said, turning back to the mirror and putting different powders on her eyelids. “Poe likes the two of you. He’s told us that he likes Finn, and he’s treating you the exact same way as he’s treating him.”

Rey thought for a moment more, grabbing her hair brush from the counter next to Jess. The bristles caught on the knots in her hair, and Rey muttered curses every time they snagged. “What do I do?” 

Jess turned. Her eyes were shimmering bronze now, her eyelashes darker and longer. “It depends. How do you feel about them?”

She thought, wringing the rest of the water out of her hair. “They make me feel warm. Both of them do. Poe feels like a friend. Finn feels like a friend too. But they both feel different than that. I don’t love them like I love my family, like I love my parents and my aunt and uncle. But I don’t know what it feels like.”

Jess smiled sweetly. “It sounds like you like them, Rey.”

She blinked. “What should I do?”

Jess laughed again, grabbing a tube of liquid pigment. She twisted it open, spreading the pink liquid across her mouth. “Whatever you think is the right thing to do.” 

Rey’s curiosity finally overcame her. “What is that stuff?”

“This?” Jess asked, gesturing to the things scattered on her side of the counter. Rey nodded. “This is makeup. I use to make myself look pretty. At least, more feminine. Could I put some on you, to show you? I mean, we are having a huge party tonight.”

Rey shrugged. She took Poe’s jacket off, folding it up neatly and putting it on her bunk. “I guess. It’s worth trying.” Jess grinned, grabbing a few brushes and tiny containers.

“I don’t have anything that will match your skintone,” Jess said, gesturing to her olive skin, “But I’ve got plenty of things that look good on anybody.”

Rey pulled her hair out of her face. “You can make me up,” She gave Jess permission to do what she wanted. “I am meeting with Finn and Poe in an hour, so, I kind of need to be ready by then.”

Jess smiled. “Oh, Rey, you are so sweet. It won’t take that long to finish this. I’m gonna put a little bit of eyeshadow on you, fill in your eyebrows, and then some blush and liner, and some lip stain. I promise this won’t take more than forty five minutes.”

Rey didn’t understand anything the older girl said, but she let Jess do it anyways. Jess sat her down on her bunk, and stood over her. Rey noticed that her hair was now full of soft curls. 

Jess started by patting a soft tan cream onto Rey’s eyelids, smoothing it out with a brush, and then putting powder of the same color on top of it. The powder smelled faintly like flowers. Then Jess was swirling a brush with a darker taupe color in the crease in between her eyelid and her brow bone, bringing the dense brush under her eyes as well. 

Jess rummaged around in her things until she found a bigger, fluffier brush and a metal container filled with a peachy pink substance. She circled the brush around the pink, and then brushed it onto each of Rey’s cheeks. It was powder, and as Rey got a good view of the pan, she noticed there were tiny gold flecks hidden within the blush. 

The older girl turned back to her things, looking for something else. “Gotcha!” She exclaimed softly. Rey had no idea what Jess had in her hand. It looked like a spring, but tightly wound and covered with soft bristles. In her other hand, Jess had a tube of a waxy brown paste and a sharply angled brush.

“What is that?” Rey asked. Jess gestured with the spring. Rey nodded.

“It’s called a spoolie. You use it to brush through your eyebrows,” Jess explained. “This other stuff is to fill in your eyebrows, but you’ve already got full brows, so I’m going to put this stuff away.” Jess brushed through Rey’s brows gently, taming the hairs so they formed one clean shape. Next came a dark pencil framing her lash line, more defined on the upper lid, softer strokes on the bottom, followed by a soft pink liquid spread over her lips. 

Jess took a step back from Rey, admiring her work. She thought of something, straightening with a gasp of glee. She grabbed a pan of pale gold powder and a fluffy round brush. She spread the powder across Rey’s cheekbones.

“There we go. We’re done.” Jess said. Rey went to the mirror as Jess looked at the chrono. “Not even a half hour. You’ve got plenty of time to meet with Finn and Poe.”

Her eyes were more defined, her face glowing golden and flushed peach. She looked different, and though she liked it, she decided she wasn’t going to dedicatedly do this every day, like some people. Rey ran her fingers through her just barely dry hair, watching the way the strands fell into waves. She was going to wear it down tonight. 

Appearances were never something she thought about on Jakku. Sure, when her grandmother and great grandmother showed up in her dreams, she was entranced by their beauty, the kindness that smoothed their features. But in the waking world, there was no purpose in makeup or elaborate hairstyles, just something to keep long hair out of parts and out of fields of vision. 

She grabbed Poe’s jacket, deciding that the clothes she was wearing were acceptable for the memorial party with the brown leather slung on top of it. Jess played with her hair as Rey went to meet up with Poe and Finn.

Jess smiled. “Rey, just remember, do what you think is right.” Rey turned back as she went to shut the door. 

“Thank you so much, Jessika. I’ll see you at the party.”

Jess waved. “Not a problem, Rey.”

Rey wandered down to the commons where she had hid when Wedge returned. Finn was already there, tight fitting black shirt and khaki pants, like usual. He was bouncing his leg, combat boot tapping against the hard floor, sitting on the couch in the far corner. 

He jerked upright when he saw Rey, standing and waving her over. “You look different,” Finn observed, his warm eyes clever and bright. 

“Jess put makeup on me,” Rey explained. “I didn’t think I would like it, but I do.”

Finn smiled at her, gesturing to the couch next to him “You can sit if you want. Poe still has to show up.”

Rey gulped. “I needed to talk to the two of you about this morning.”

“I know you didn’t mean to kiss me,” Finn said, jumping to conclusions. “I know I didn’t mean to kiss you.”

Someone walked into the commons. The two startled for a moment until they realized it was only Poe. But something was different about their pilot. He looked skeletal, black designs over his eyes, vertical lines crossing his lips, an upside down heart on the tip of his nose. His curly hair had been slicked back, and he was wearing his typical clothes, but they were cleaner and straightened. 

Finn waved him over. Poe lit up when he saw the other two, jogging over to them. The glum mood radiating off him was the same as several hours before. Rey and Finn shared a concerned glance, but turned back to Poe. “I wanted to talk to you two about this morning.”

Poe winced. “Kriff,” he mumbled under his breath. 

“Finn and I, I mean, at least I can feel other people’s emotions,” Rey started. “You felt heartbroken.” Rey said, looking Poe in the eyes. 

“So you’ve been reading my mind?” Poe accused, angry eyes flashing between Finn and Rey. Finn put his hands up in defense. 

“No, I haven’t been,” Rey said calmly. “I promise I would only go in your mind with permission.”

Poe softened. “I’m sorry for snapping. I’m already kind of tense today.”

“It’s alright,” Finn said, reaching out to put his hand on Poe’s arm. The older man flinched at the contact, but relaxed. “We all jumped to conclusions today.”

Rey took a breath. “I didn’t mean to kiss Finn. But, I know that I’ve wanted to for weeks.” Finn lit up in surprise. Poe looked so deflated when she said this. “Poe, there’s something else too. I’m almost certain I have feelings for you too.”

Poe blinked. Did she know about all of the times he had shamed himself for having feelings for this girl and Finn? She had said that she wasn’t reading their minds, but she could have read it off him. He couldn’t look at her, his leather jacket hanging off of her thin shoulders.

Finn gulped, his face hot and palms damp. “If we’re sharing feelings, I feel really warm when I think about the two of you. It’s not like being friends, but it’s different. I don’t know how to describe it.”

Poe blinked as Finn continued. “My chest feels lighter, I guess, and I feel my heart pounding.”

Rey’s eyes darted between the two men, her heart pounding like Finn had described. She knew that she could cut the tension in the room with the lightsaber still hanging at her side. “I think we need to decide what’s going to happen. Are we going to forget this? Or are two of us going to choose each other and the other just stays friends?”

There was silence. No one wanted to make eye contact. Rey was looking past the two men, and her eyes fell on the chrono on the other wall. 

“Kriff,” she muttered, jumping to her feet, startling Finn and Poe. “I have to meet my father. I’m sorry.”

She ran out of the commons, and she hoped she could leave her problems there. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, I was going to do some edits to bring this a little closer to canon, but then I actually saw TLJ and I went fuck this. Hey, at least my take on these characters is actually in character (i think)


	15. Chapter 15

The rain had cleared up, leaving tiny puddles scattered across the tarmac. The sun was setting, and the reflection on the still soaked clouds made it look like there was two of them. 

Luke was waiting on the tarmac as the sun slipped behind the mountains, watching the illusion of twin suns. He had trimmed his hair and beard, and gotten his hands on a set of black robes.  His metal hand still hadn’t been fixed, but he was alright with the exoskeleton, even if the gears and parts were still damaged from that blaster all those years ago on Tatooine. 

He was ready to go to the memorial, but there was still half an hour before it started. Wedge was with Leia and Han, setting up the ceremony. 

Someone darted out of the base, slamming the door behind them. Luke jumped, but then he realized it was only Rey. He extended his left hand to her, and she ran to him. 

“Papa!” She greeted him, but the smile on her face wasn’t completely genuine. Luke chalked that up to the day of grief.

“Hello, sunrise. How was your day?” Luke asked, looking slightly down at his daughter’s face, waiting for her response.

She shrugged. “Poe showed me the rain.”

Luke suddenly felt his eyes water. The last time his daughter had seen rain was the night he lost her. He blinked, not letting Rey see the memories flashing before his eyes. “How was that?”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh, it was wonderful. I forgot about the rain, Jakku and all.”

“I’m glad it made you happy,” Luke told her. He sighed, thinking about the memorial that was quickly heading their way. “I need to explain to you how this is going to work.” He gestured towards the hangar.

Rey nodded, and Luke ran his flesh hand over his hair. “The New Republic started this right after the fall of the Empire. There would be celebrations across the galaxy. Groups of people would leave mementos and items that belonged to their departed loved ones in the center of a room. The people then would kneel around the items, and everyone would take a turn saying the names of the people they knew and their loved ones. Everyone’s name gets said only once. That part is very somber.”

Rey tilted her head a little, and Luke continued. “But once everyone participating has a chance to speak, say the names, it turns into a celebration of life. There’s often alcohol, and partying until the sun comes up the next day.”

She blinked. “That actually makes sense. Celebrating life instead of cursing death.” Luke nodded. 

“That’s exactly it.”

“Can I say Great Grandmother’s name?” Rey asked. 

“Of course. Leia and I never got to know her. I used to say the names of the people who raised me and my birth father. She says the names of her parents and our biological mother.”

A chill wind swept in from the sea. Rey shivered slightly and pulled Poe’s jacket tighter across her shoulders. Father and daughter stood there for several moments in silence. 

“How are you adapting to this climate?” Luke asked. “I’m sorry, sunrise. I haven’t been keeping an eye out like I meant to.”

Her father’s guilt was tangible, and Rey didn’t even need to touch at their Force bond to feel it. “Don’t worry about it, Papa,” Rey brushed away her father’s claims of negligence, “This weather is so weird. The sun shines and I’m still cold.”

Luke laughed, this genuine. “I remember that feeling. I was miserable, and I complained about it at every possible opportunity.”

Rey grinned. “If six months ago, someone told me that  _ the  _ Luke Skywalker loved complaining about the weather, I wouldn’t have believed them.” 

He was spared from his pang of heartbreak when Wedge, Leia and Han left the hangar and walked towards them. Rey grinned wider at the sight of her other father. “Dad!” She yelled.

Wedge smiled, but his eyes were wet. “Hello, little love.” Rey grabbed her father’s hand, her own engulfed in his. 

“Kid, we’re pretty much ready to start,” Han said, his right hand fitted snugly between Leia’s shoulder blades. She leaned gently into her husband’s touch, and if anyone noticed the soft tear tracks on her face, they knew not to mention it.

They all filed into the hangar. Rey took in a breath of surprise. She worked here so often, with all of the X-Wings and A-Wings jammed inside, that the emptiness shocked her. Two of the mess tables, short and round, were set in the center of the giant room. 

Two blue holograms floated above each table. One was easily recognizable as the Hosnian system, five moons spiraling gently around a giant planet. But the other was a single planet, blue-silver clouds swirling over its overly blue surface, Rey didn’t recognize. But then she remembered the conversation she had last night with her aunt, uncle, and father. 

It was Alderaan. This was her aunt’s homeworld, the planet that had been destroyed. Leia went and placed several trinkets on the table underneath Alderaan’s projection. Rey watched as both of her fathers pulled items out of their clothes. 

Luke had a tiny vial of yellow sand, that reminded Rey of Jakku, but she shook the thought away. Wedge had an old holo which he turned on, revealing a family picture, a man and woman holding each other, a teenage girl with long blond hair, and a young dark haired boy. Rey wondered who they were, but kept her mouth shut.

People filed into the hangar quietly. Poe came with Finn, placing an flight helmet on the table under the Hosnian system. Jess Pava was holding a pretty girl’s hand. The girl held on to a necklace, which she hesitantly unclasped and placed on the table. Another girl, who looked to be her sister, took a matching necklace off and slid the pendants together, matching the pieces to make a circle.

Wedge took his daughter’s hand. “We should probably take a seat, love.” Rey stood there for a moment, taking in the father that she thought was dead for over a month. 

“Just a moment, Dad.” Rey went to the center of the room, squeezing her way to the table under the Hosnian System. She took a breath. She had never wanted to part with these, but she sighed and unraveled the bands of cloth from around her forearms. She folded them into a neat, off-white square, and placed them on the table between a locket and a bunch of wildflowers. 

Luke and Leia were kneeling next to each other. The general leaned into her brother, and whispered something that made her brother smile and shake his head. Rey looked back at the table under Alderaan. Her uncle was there, placing a different holo. It looked like some kind of award ceremony. Rey jumped when she saw Ben next to him. 

He had cut his hair some, leaving it just shorter than Poe’s. Speaking of the pilot, there were at least a dozen others with a similar skeletal design painted on their faces. Rey knelt next to her father. Wedge knelt on her other side, and took her hand.

“Paddie, love,” Wedge whispered as the room started to settle. “I’m sorry if I get emotional. For a long time I’ve been saying your name at this. It might slip out.”

“It’s okay, Dad,” Rey said, even though it wasn’t okay. She almost started crying at the thought of her parents mourning her. Luke turned to look at her. 

“Rey. For people with the Force, these kind of events aren’t always the easiest. If you feel overwhelmed, you can leave, just know that.”

She put her hand on her father’s right wrist, not touching the prosthesis. It wasn’t that she didn’t like touching it, it was that her papa always seemed insecure of the metal that made up his right hand. “Thank you, Papa.”

The room fell silent. Leia stood and turned to face the holograms of the planet. “Today is a galactic day of remembrance. We honor those we have lost, those who cannot return. Everyone gets their turn to say the names of those they wish to honor. A name can only be said once.”

The room nodded solemnly. They understood this, knew how it worked, but it was explained every year as part of the ceremony. Finn and Rey, under their breaths, thanked the stars for this explanation. Leia took her spot next to her son and brother again.

She waited for the room to fall dead silent, swallowing hard before speaking. “Alderaan. Bail and Breha Organa. Padme Naberrie Amidala.”

Luke cleared his throat. The feelings swelling in the room made a lump in everyone’s throat. “Obi Wan Kenobi. Owen Lars and Beru Whitesun. Anakin Skywalker. Biggs Darklighter.” There was a waver in his voice that reminded everyone that this legend was only human. Rey shuddered.

It was Wedge’s turn. “Hosnia. Red Squadron. Jagged and Zena Antilles.”

People across the room said names that Rey did not know. But the way they said the names made her heart break. Some names were said with reverence, others with sorrow. Some were said with anger, not at the name itself, but the universe that took the name away. But most were said with some form of happiness, the memories flooding through their minds, celebrating life.

From the opposite side of the room, Poe Dameron took a breath and grabbed at a chain around his neck. “Shara Bey. L’ulo L’ampar.”

Finn, sitting next to him, found the courage to speak up. “FN two-oh-oh-three, I mean, Slip.”

Poe reached over and placed a hand on top of Finn’s, the one resting on his thigh. He squeezed Finn’s hand, and Finn clutched onto him. 

Rey could feel the sadness washing over her friends in waves. Tears began to pool in her eyes. “Inej and Neium of Jakku. Shmi Skywalker.” She clamped her eyes shut to keep from crying.

As soon as Rey finished speaking, another voice spoke up, wavering and quiet. “Lor San Tekka. Iautos. Nattan Sandsher.” 

Rey swung her head around to look at Ben as he continued to list off names. If there was any doubt of his regret, it was instantly washed away. 

Ben said every name he knew of the people he knew he was responsible for killing. Every student at the Academy, every prisoner tortured, every execution by Knight of Ren. And how many more was he responsible for that he didn’t know the name of? That village on Jakku he had slaughtered? Every single person on the Hosnian System when Starkiller destroyed it?

He shoved the thought aside, and felt even more guilty by avoiding it. His mother put her hand in between his shoulder blades. He didn’t deserve this. 

More time passed between names, and slowed until silence. Rey looked down at her lap, shutting her eyes and connecting with the Force. She reached out to a tiny, desolate planet, to the resting place of her guardians. Inej and Neium had raised her, and they were dead, and Rey didn’t know enough to properly honor them. 

Luke took her hand. “My master told me once that death is a natural part of life. But he also said that mourning wasn’t allowed. Rejoice for those who have transformed into the Force. But it is alright to mourn. People we love are gone,” Luke took a breath, and Rey realized that he was speaking to the entire room. “But that does not mean we cannot keep living.”

The silence fell into chatter as people began to stand and stretch their legs. Rey got to her feet, and reached down to help her fathers to their feet. Music started playing, and people went to the tables. The two girls took back their necklaces, tying the chains back around their necks. The younger of the two leaned in to Jess, who pressed a kiss to the top of her head. 

Rey wrapped the strips of fabric back around her arms. They had belonged to her guardians, fabric used to block sand out of their mouths. She hadn’t taken them off in nearly a decade, and her bare arms felt strange. 

Poe quickly got his hands on a bottle of liquor and glasses. His squadron gathered around him, Finn on his right side. Jess brought the two sisters with her, and the older girl brought another young woman, one that Rey recognized as Lieutenant Connix. 

Finn waved at Rey. She waved back, squeezing through the crowd to get to Poe’s group. She sidled next to Jess, the other girl still glued to her roommate’s side. 

“Hey, Rey,” Jess said, tear tracks still visible on her face. “This is my girlfriend, Rose Tico.”

Rey smiled at Rose, and her eyes lit up. “It’s nice to meet you, Rey. I mean, it’s really nice to meet you. You’re amazing. Jess keeps telling me stories and I can’t believe she hasn’t introduced you to me before.”

Rose cut herself off, blushing. “I’m sorry. I ramble. I’m just starstruck, that’s all. You’re a hero.”

Rey blinked. A pilot put a glass of dark liquid in her hands, as Poe poured two more for Jess and Rose. “I’m not a hero,” She mumbled under her breath, taking a sip of the drink and grimacing. It was sharp as hell, and bitter. “I’m just a scavenger from Jakku.”

Rose gasped. “You faced down the First Order and Kylo Ren and made it out unharmed. You found Luke Skywalker. You are most definitely a hero.”

Rose’s sister leaned towards them. “Rose, please, don’t overwhelm her. Poe made that kind of clear.”

Rose sighed. “Fine, Paige.”

Paige laughed. “I’m sorry about my sister. You should have seen her when I introduced her to Finn, or when she met Poe.”

“It’s alright,” Rey smiled. “I’m getting used to it. People really like me here.”

“Yeah, they do,” Poe said, downing his drink and refilling his glass. The lines on his mouth weren’t smudged by the alcohol. “They really do, Rey.”

Finn sniffed at his glass and crinkled his nose. It smelled like chemicals, but everyone here was drinking it down like it was the greatest thing in the galaxy. He raised the glass to his lips, took a sip, and immediately spit it out. “What is this?”

The pilots laughed good heartedly. Poe clapped Finn on the back, already starting to get tipsy. “That, buddy, is brandy. Not the good Corellian stuff, but we make due.”

“It’s awful,” Finn said, still grimacing from the taste of the liquor. “It tastes like glass cleaner.”

Poe wanted to ask him how he knew what glass cleaner tasted like, but he shook his head. He didn’t want to know. He topped off everyone’s glass, taking Finn’s from him and getting him a bottle of water. 

“To life!” Poe shouted, downing his brandy. Jess and Rose followed, echoing Poe’s toast. Rey watched as Poe’s toast spread like wildfire across the hangar. She joined in. 

The night dragged on, and slowly, people began to leave. Luke and Wedge left together, holding hands. They had both been crying. Han and Leia left next, and Ben slunk away into the night. 

Some groups of people migrated out of the hangar to some fire pits. Tipsy, Rey followed Poe, Finn, and the entirety of Black Squadron to one of the fire pits. A bonfire was started. Rey was too anxious because the intoxicated pilots making a fire almost guaranteed accidents. Paige and Lieutenant Connix sat together on the ground, the lieutenant leaning in on the pilot. 

“Kaydel,” Paige laughed, brushing loose hair out of her face. “Come on, Kaydel. Get up, honey.”

“Fine,” Kaydel whined uncharacteristically, dragging out the sound as she sat upright. She was clearly drunk. 

Finn patted a space next to him on a bench. “Hey, Rey, come sit with me!” She smiled and sat down next to him, leaning onto his shoulder. He crinkled his nose again, brushing a piece of her hair out of her face. “Are you drunk, peanut?”

Rey giggled. “Kind of. I only had three glasses of brandy.”

“I can smell it,” Finn complained, but he was grinning. Poe sat down on Finn’s other side, and he had some kind of stringed instrument in his arms. He strummed at the strings, letting the chord ring out into the night. 

Poe turned to Finn and Rey. “I, uh, wrote this song a long time ago, before I went to the Resistance. It’s about my folks, and I only play it today.”

“Come on, Dameron, play the song,” Snap yelled from the other side of the fire.

Poe rolled his eyes with a smile. “Hush, heckler. I’m explaining this to the newbies.”

A couple pilots groaned. They knew how much of a talker Poe was when he was drunk. “But anyways,” Poe continued. “My mamá passed away when I was eight. She was a pilot in the Rebellion, and I always wanted to follow in her footsteps. My father was angry when I told him that I was following the General from the Republic to the Resistance. I mean, he came around, and he supports me, but we were angry and there was a falling out. That’s why I wrote this song, but it has always been for my mamá.”

Finn and Rey watched intently as Poe spoke. He put his fingers on the strings, adjusting them several times before he started strumming in ernest. “ I’m not changing pops, I’m seeking, and I hear what you’re preaching, but this drowsy inanition can’t stay. I am screaming out this seance while a spectral love is playing with the lights, it just ain’t right, it just ain’t right.”

Poe felt his voice waver as the two watched him. He knew it wasn’t just Finn and Rey, but he felt their gaze, hotter than the bonfire. He sang on. 

“I won’t lie to you, I won’t lie, if the water comes we won’t survive, and the rain is gonna come, so shine on you sinking sun. For the waning time it gets me low. Look on you wicked world. I will wait my turn but it goes slow.” Poe noticed that Rey had shut her eyes, a sad smile on her face as she rested her head on Finn’s shoulder. 

“I won’t lie to you, I won’t lie. If the water comes we won’t survive, and the rain is gonna come, but she was standing there. I tore another picture from the wall, ‘cause I don’t want them anymore,” Poe’s voice wavered a little. This part, when he was writing it, made him sob. The tears welled now. 

“I swam these waters for so long, I never thought I’d reach the shore. When I came out you were standing, smiling, radiant through your own trauma. You took my hand and you hold it still. Can you hear the laugh of lovers?” Poe spared another glance and Finn and Rey. Finn had a hand on Rey’s thigh, but the other reached out towards Poe, like he wanted to hold his hand.

“She was standing there. She’s still standing there, so shine on you sinking sun, ‘cause the waning time it gets me low. Look on you wicked world; I will wait my turn but it goes slow.”

Poe finished the song with a gentle chord. The pilots hollered. Finn smiled as Poe set down the guitar and took Poe’s hand.

They’d figure this out. He knew they would. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that Poe sings is "Not Changing Pops, Seeking" by Night Lab with Oscar Isaac. I had to. Oscar is such a beautiful singer and I love him. (im a lesbian crap)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a wild couple of weeks so I whipped this out over the past couple days

There was a pounding in Poe’s head, right between his eyes. He groaned as he woke up. He hardly remembered coming inside after the bonfire. He hoped he brought his guitar inside when he was drunk. He didn’t want to go searching for where it might have gone. The soft daylight streaming through his eyelids made his head hurt worse. 

And then Poe realized he wasn’t alone. There were two people breathing softly in sync next to him, and there was the solid weight of an arm across his torso. Poe sat up with a jolt, making his head spin in protest. He didn’t remember taking people to bed, and he had sworn several years ago that he wasn’t going to hook up with anyone on base. 

It was Finn and Rey. Poe groaned quietly, as they were still sleeping. Rey’s loose hair had fallen over her face, moving with her breaths. Finn’s eyelashes, insanely beautiful and long, rested gently over his dark cheeks. It was his arm around Poe’s torso, even though Rey was between them. 

Poe ran his hand through his hair, and then over his mouth. When his hand came away clean, he sighed in relief. His drunk self had enough sense to wash off the Yavinese makeup. It was traditional to wear it when mourning the dead. 

He carefully made his way out of his bunk. It was larger than the normal soldiers’, seeing as he was a commander, but it still was too small for three people to share at once comfortably, Rey and Finn nearly on top of each other. Poe went to his fresher and splashed cold water on his face. He noticed his limp hair and ran his hands through it. The hair gel was caked on his scalp, and he needed to take a shower.

He poured three glasses of water from the fresher tap. One he drank down, swallowing some pain killers for his head. His throat was dry as hell. The other two he set on his nightstand, with some pain killers for Rey and Finn. He knew that Finn had only tried a sip of the liquor, but better safe than sorry. And Rey was only nineteen standard years old. Her hangover shouldn’t be awful, but it was the first time she had liquor. At least that he knew of. He wasn’t one to judge. 

Poe returned to the fresher, and splashed more water on his face. The coolness of the liquid felt nice against his skin. The pounding between his eyes started to subside, and Poe relaxed in the quiet.

There was a knock at the door. Poe jumped, stopping himself from swearing and waking up the others. He rushed to the door, smoothing down his clothes from the night before and grabbing his comm, which he had put on silent the night before. There were about a dozen missed messages. He allowed himself to curse under his breath.

The door slid open. He winced at the sight of the General with her arms crossed. He put his hands up in defense. “Ma’am, I’m sorry I didn’t answer my-”

“Dameron, this isn’t something for the Resistance. I’m asking you to do me a favor,” Leia said. Poe furrowed his brows. She didn’t look like she had retired early from the party. Her eyes seemed puffy, the remnants of the sadness of the previous days. But she was strong even in her sorrow, and Poe envied her, only a little bit. 

“Ma’am, I’d love to do you a favor, but can we discuss this elsewhere? I’ve got sleeping houseguests at the moment that I don’t remember inviting in,” He gestured behind him. “And I don’t want to wake them.”

Leia nodded and let her arms fall at her side, with the motherly smile that made Poe’s heart ache for his own. “Command Room at fourteen hundred hours, alright?” 

He nodded, and she grinned. “I’ll see you then. Dameron, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, ma’am.”

At this, Leia crossed her arms, and raised an eyebrow. “Poe, this is a personal favor. No need to call me ma’am.”

Poe sighed. “You’re welcome, Leia.” If this were any other official, he wouldn’t have used the tone that he did with Leia. But he had known her since childhood. Poe suddenly had an image of Leia at his mother’s funeral, the memory distorted with time. Poe shook it away. 

She smiled at him, her warmth shining through. It did when she was the General, but he had to be on her good side to see it. She turned and left the barracks, leaving Poe standing in the threshold of his room. 

He turned back to his bed, where Rey was starting to stir. Finn held her close to him. Poe remembered their conversation before the party and blushed furiously. He wasn’t going to bring it up. 

Poe watched silently as Rey woke up. She groaned, covering her eyes with a hand. And then she too realized she wasn’t alone. She yanked herself out from under Finn’s arm and scrambled off of Poe’s bed. 

She relaxed slightly when she saw Finn, his face furrowed in unconsciousness and confusion as he too began to stir.

“Where am I?” Rey asked, and kriff was the sound too loud for Poe. He winced, but went towards her. 

“You’re in my quarters. We all crashed here last night, and quite frankly, I don’t remember everything last night,” Poe explained, his voice soft.

Rey groaned again. “My head feels like there’s a bantha stomping on my brain.”

“You drank a lot,” Poe said, gesturing towards the glass of water and painkillers on the nightstand. “You’re probably thirsty.”

Rey swallowed, and nodded. She grabbed a glass and started to chug it down. Poe noticed that she left the painkillers be. “Those might help you out,” Poe said, pointing to them. 

“What are they?” There was a pang of sadness in his chest at the innocence with which Rey asked. 

“They’ll help with the headache that I bet you have.” She peeled back the plastic covering to the capsules and swallowed them dry. Rey went to drink Finn’s glass of water, and Poe didn’t stop her. He could refill Finn’s glass when he woke up. 

Speaking of the Sith, Finn woke suddenly, scrambling to his feet. He looked around, not  seeing Rey or Poe. “FN-2003, where is my armor?”

When Finn spoke, it wasn’t Finn’s voice. It sounded like the autonomous voice of the Stormtroopers. Poe started towards his friend. “Finn, buddy? Do you know where you are?”

Finn snapped to face Poe. “What kind of question is that, 03? We’re in the barracks. Where is my armor?” 

Rey stepped towards Finn. “Hey, Finn, we’re in the Resistance barracks. More specifically, we’re in Poe Dameron’s room. We had the big party last night and you took care of us while we were drunk, remember?”

Finn’s eyes softened, and his sharp posture melted into something that was more familiar to Poe. “Yeah,” He trailed off. Finn reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, his hand giant against his head. 

“Can I ask what happened, buddy?” Poe asked, looking at Finn with concern. Finn nodded.

“This happens sometimes. I wake up and I’m FN 2187 again. It takes a minute or two to come out of it, usually.”

Poe and Rey shared a concerned glance. “Finn, usually?” Rey prompted, her eyebrows furrowed. 

“How can we help you break out of it?” Poe said at the same time as Rey. Finn looked down at his feet. His face felt hot. 

“Usually just reminding me where I am, and who I am, and what I’m doing,” Finn mumbled, not meeting their eyes. “That works most of the time.” Poe put his hand tentatively on Finn’s shoulder. 

“I can’t speak for Rey, but I know that I will try to help you. Finn, I mean it.” Finn looked up and met Poe’s eyes. 

“Me too,” Rey said, feeling lost for words. Finn had been brainwashed since birth. How was she supposed to know what to do? But she knew she cared about Finn, and she considered him her family. 

“Thank you, guys.” 

Poe opened his arms, and Finn wedged his face into the crook of Poe’s neck, his breath hot against Poe’s skin. Rey hugged the two of them, and for a moment, they were at peace. 

And then the facade crumbled, and Finn went back to his room to change, and Rey went to take a shower and brush the smell and taste of liquor out of her mouth, and Poe was alone. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, and he wasn’t really alone, because BB was in their charging port by the door, but he was alone. 

He looked at the chrono and realized he had three hours until Leia needed him in the command room. What did she want from him? It was a personal thing, he knew that, but what was it?

Poe settled on waiting to find out. He washed the gel out of his hair, letting the dark mass dry naturally. It wasn’t cold out, so there was no risk of his wet hair turning to ice. That had been a funny day, explaining to an admiral why he was late getting into his X-Wing.

“You see ma’am,” Poe had explained. “My hair has frozen solid, and I couldn’t get my helmet to fit.”

Looking back, Poe was surprised that he hadn’t been court-martialed before, with his tone and his sarcastic sense of humor. He laughed at the thought, and then cursed as the pain from his hangover throbbed at the sound.

* * *

 

Jessika was still sleeping when Rey got back to their shared room. Rey grabbed a washcloth and wiped the smudges of black from around her eyes and the rest of the makeup off of her skin. She changed into a clean vest and trousers, wrapping the strips of cloth back around her forearms. 

She reached out to her father through their bond. She felt that he was somewhere out in the mountains with her cousin, and he seemed fearful, and there was a lick of anger radiating off of him. Rey furrowed her brows. She hadn’t seen Luke angry since Ahch-To, when Ben….

Rey grabbed her staff and her grandfather’s lightsaber and burst down the hallways. Once she was out of the base, she only took a moment to orient herself before racing up the mountain path. 

She could hear them half a mile away. Thankfully there was no sounds of physical violence, the characteristic snap-hiss sound of the lightsabers absent, but they were screaming. And from what she could make of what Luke and Ben were saying, they were talking about her and Finn. 

“The First Order is still out there, and so are the Knights of Ren, Uncle! We need to be ready!”

“I don’t trust you, Ben! You were unsupervised with my daughter and the boy, and you’ve already tried to kill them both! You could have tricked them into turning to the Dark Side!”

Their anger was tangible, and Rey was able to sneak closer under the sounds of their yelling. She peered around a rock to watch their argument. Luke’s metal hand was clenched, like he was stopping himself from lashing out. 

Ben too was trying to keep himself distant. It was clear that Luke had started this fight. He must have come across Ben meditating, or training, or something that provoked him.

“Uncle, it was her idea!” Ben yelled. “She wanted to learn! Rey came to me and asked me to train her and Finn. Tell him, Rey.” Both men turned to face the rock she was hiding behind. Rey’s face went warm. She stepped onto the landing, facing her father and her cousin.

“I did ask Ben to train us, Papa. I thought it was a good idea. Finn’s clearly Force sensitive, and I’m sorry, but I wasn’t learning a lot with you,” Rey said, not looking Luke in the eye. “I’ve seen inside the First Order. I don’t know enough about it as Ben, but I’ve seen what it can do, and what it is doing to the galaxy. They’re going to find us eventually, and when they do we need to fight.”

Ben turned to Luke and raised his eyebrows. He was going to smirk, but didn’t, knowing that Luke was still angry.

Luke sighed, his shoulders rising and slumping in defeat. “I guess I need to train Finn and Rey to use lightsabers, and to use the Force as a weapon. The only problem is that there is only one lightsaber in our possession, and the places where we can get kyber crystal are rare and under the First Order’s guard.”

Ben raised his hand before realizing he could just speak. “I know where three lightsabers are right now. I hid some just after my fall, including your lightsaber, on Tatooine.”

Luke groaned, but smiled. “Are you kidding me? Tatooine?”

“Nope,” Ben crossed his arms. “If hiding things on Tatooine worked against my grandfather, then I guessed it would work against you.”

“I guess I’ll talk Leia into a trip to Tatooine, then.” Luke said. “I’m sorry, Ben. I swear that I’m trying to trust you, but I still need some time.”

“I understand, Uncle,” Ben nodded. He opened his arms slightly, not counting on his uncle to hug him, so he was surprised when Luke held his nephew close for the first time in a decade and a half. 

The three of them went down to the lake, where they sat and meditated together. They were growing closer to healing.

* * *

 

Fourteen hundred hours rolled around. Poe was waiting outside the door to the command room. Rey still had his favorite jacket, so he wore the jacket he had worn the night before. 

It was leather, heavier, heartier, and darker than his favorite jacket, but in a way this one was more important. When he was a teenager, he had carefully removed the Rebellion shoulder patch from his mother’s favorite jacket and sown it onto a jacket of his own. 

His mother had been dead for twenty five years. Kriff. Poe didn’t like thinking about how long it had been since Shara Bey was alive, but that was what the remembrance was for. But he liked having a piece of her on his shoulder, and who cared if the leather didn’t match. 

Poe put in his access code to the command room and the door slid open. Leia was waiting for him on the other side. “Fourteen hundred exactly, good job Dameron,” Leia laughed at him. She knew about his tendency to be late to these kind of things, no matter how hard he tried. 

“I was anxious, ma’am,” Poe admitted. Leia frowned and put her hand on Poe’s shoulder, reaching up to do so. They entered the room, Poe noticing how uncharacteristically empty the room was. 

“It’s no suicide mission, Dameron. It’s about funding.”

Poe groaned. He’d rather talk strategy, his strongest suit. Leia sighed at him. 

“The logistics have already been sorted out. We have a donor with a personal tie to the Resistance who is willing to give us the money we need to replenish our fleet.”

Poe couldn’t help his jaw falling open. X-Wings, Y-Wings, and A-Wings were all incredibly expensive, and they were short on all of the types of fighter. “Who is donating the money?”

“An old friend of Han and mine,” Leia said, turning towards the center console. She projected a star map, this time one that he recognized. Hoth was where his mother had been pregnant with him, and he remembered his father telling him stories about the battles there. 

“General Calrissian?” Poe asked. Leia smiled, not the sad Skywalker smile, but something far more nostalgic. She nodded.

“Okay, I mean no offense, ma’am” Poe said, “But General Calrissian is donating money to the cause, and you need me for this how?”

“I am using this as a chance to visit my friend and his wife and daughters on Bespin,” Leia explained. “I believe the right thing to do is to let Lando see Luke, and to show him that Luke’s daughter is alive.”

Poe nodded. “Didn’t the General have a son?” 

Leia lowered her eyes. “He did. We still don’t know his fate, but his wife has faith that he is alive, somewhere in the galaxy.”

“If you’re taking Luke, Wedge and Rey, and yourself, Han, Ben, and Chewbacca, why do you need me to come along, ma’am?”

“I would like you to accompany us with Black One, to provide an example of the types of ships we have. Also, just in case some First Order troops come across us. You are excellent help in a dogfight.”

Poe grinned. “In that case, it would be my honor to come along, ma’am.”

“We leave in two days at dawn. I have alerted Rey, Luke and Wedge, so don’t feel like you have to.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

* * *

 

Finn found himself drifting across the base. He didn’t have duties that day, but Poe was suspiciously out of the hangar working, and he could feel that Rey was having a rather tense argument with her father and cousin. He could have wandered down to the pebble beach, but that was his, Rey’s and Poe’s place. He didn’t want to go there without them. 

Father. Family. Finn loved his found family, the General, Poe, Rey, Jess, and any of the other pilots in Black Squadron, but he had to have come from somewhere. 

That’s how Finn found himself talking to Dr. Kalonia in the medbay, and she was giving him a cheek swab so she could analyze his DNA and see just exactly Finn was from.

“Finn, you’re lucky that the only patients I have today are here because of their hangovers and drunken mishaps,” Kalonia quipped at him. She was cheeky, and the kind of doctor Finn wished the First Order had employed. “This will take about half an hour, so the machine can separate and analyze your chromosomes. I’m just going to have you wait in the commons while it processes.”

While Finn waited, Dr. Kalonia ran the sample of his cheek through her analyzer. He wondered about his family. Where were they from? Were they alive? Did they miss him? Did they even know that their son was gone, or were they First Order officers or troopers? His mind reeled as the time dragged out. 

His posture stayed ramrod straight, clasping his hands in his lap, fingers intertwined. He would wait. Patience was a virtue, and one that Finn believed he possessed.

Dr. Kalonia waited for the analyzer to come up with the results for Finn’s DNA. She jumped when the machine made a different noise, the one that suggested a potential match in the Resistance databases. She read the display on the machine to see what went wrong.

Her eyes widened and she reached for her comm unit. “General Organa? Yes, this is Doctor Kalonia speaking. You might want to have a look at this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh i have so much planned for this story like I actually have the boss battle written but I still have to write so much to get to that point
> 
> hope you enjoyed!


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trip to Bespin

Finn stood stiffly when Dr. Kalonia entered the waiting room with some paperwork under her arm. She smiled at him, waving with her free hand. He relaxed slightly. 

“What are the results, Doctor?” 

Kalonia smiled and shuffled through the papers. “Your parents came from two different planets, as far as I can tell. Some of your DNA suggests that one of your parents came from a planet called Socorro, used for mining in the Old Republic. Your other parent is from Haruun Kal, a Mid Rim planet that escaped persecution from the Empire.”

“It did? I thought all Mid Rim planets were under the Empire’s reign,” Finn quipped.

Kalonia chuckled. “That’s what the Empire wanted us to believe, and the First Order after it. Not all Mid or Outer Rim planets were part of the Empire. But I’m surprised that Haruun Kal went unnoticed.”

“Why is that, Doctor?”

“It was the birthplace of one of the most powerful Jedi before the fall of the Republic. His relatives lived there, and if the Emperor didn’t want other Force Sensitives out of his control, he should have checked there.”

Finn nodded. “Thank you so much, Doctor Kalonia. I owe you one.”

She shook her head. “You owe me nothing, Finn.”

* * *

 

Poe started packing his day bag, even though the trip wasn’t for another eighteen hours. There was nothing better to do, really, because it wasn’t safe to tinker with Black One when there was a long trip so soon, and doing paperwork for the fuel he used wasn’t appealing enough to get done. 

Poe looked to the officer’s uniform hanging in his closet. He much preferred leaving it on base, but if the trip was for the Resistance, he supposed he had to bring it. As the top pilot in their ranks, Poe was expected to bring a certain level of maturity to the table. Sometimes it got annoying. 

BB-8 wheeled into his room, whistling and chirping. Poe laughed. “Of course, BeeBee. I’m bringing you.”

Poe threw a tool kit in the bag. BB-8 needed maintenance every so often, and Poe wanted to be ready if his friend’s circuits came undone. BB-8 kept beeping. Poe turned to look at them. “What do you mean Friend-Finn is coming?” The translation from binary to Basic was crude with Poe’s surprise.

BB-8 chattered on, explaining that General Calrissian was not aware of Rey being alive, or aware that Master Skywalker had returned from his exile. Finn just wanted to tag along with Rey. He hadn’t been apart from her since she was abducted by Kylo Ren. 

Poe shuddered at the thought of that monster, but let his friend continue chattering in binary. He started reviewing the hyperspace route. It was a straight run, no First Order blockades that Poe could remember, but that was why they were bringing him. Just in case. Force, was Poe sick of “just in case.”

He went to his closet and pulled out the dress uniform. Taking it off of its hanger, he folded it and stuck it in the bottom of his bag. “I know, BeeBee. I’m getting ready way too early. I’ve got nothing better to do, except for the kriffing paperwork.”

The droid beeped, nudging into his legs in sympathy. Poe chuckled. “That’s a great idea, BeeBee. I’ll definitely go work out, after I check on Finn. It seems like I haven’t seen him a lot. He’s always off with Rey.” His voice trailed off as he realized what he was saying. “Both of them like me, BeeBee. They told me so themselves.”

Poe groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “I should stop stressing about that.”

BB-8 chirped in agreement, and Poe knelt down and patted the top of his droid’s dome. “Thanks buddy,” Poe laughed, and then he stood and resumed packing.

* * *

 

With the news of their trip to Bespin, Rey, Finn and Ben found their training sessions canceled. Luke started meeting with his sister and brother in law, shutting the door behind him and not letting his students see what they were doing by blocking the room off from the Force. 

Rey busied herself with her own version of training, running laps up and down the pebble beach, the family lightsaber bouncing off of her hip as she moved. She needed to keep active, and working on the fleet and training had kept her busy. But now that her father canceled their plans and people were always in the Falcon, she needed something physical to do that didn’t involve either of them. 

The solutitude was nice, Rey supposed. It was something more familiar to her. The climate was much colder than she was accustomed to, and the air was too humid. But it was much kinder, clouds blocking the radiation from this sun and keeping her skin from burning. But being alone was something she knew. That was familiar. 

And then she wasn’t alone. Finn had stumbled onto the beach where Rey was training, and had sat down on a boulder behind her. 

“Hey, Rey!” He called. Rey’s hand flew to the weapon on her belt before she realized who had called out to her. She jogged over to Finn and sat down next to him.

“How are you, Finn?” Rey asked, wiping droplets of sweat off of her forehead. That was a plus side to the cooler climate; she wasn’t sweating as much. 

“I took a DNA test,” Finn said, staring off at the sea. “My biological parents are from planets called Socorro and Haruun Kal. I mean, they probably don’t live there anymore, seeing as they met and had me. But it’s nice to know where I’m from.”

“That’s wonderful, Finn,” Rey said, smiling brightly at her friend. “Papa was telling me that the stormtroopers from the Empire were clones, but the First Order has been kidnapping children for their troops since the fall of the Empire. The son of one of Papa’s friends was kidnapped by the First Order. I can’t believe no one has done anything about it until now. I mean, it’s been thirty years.”

Finn turned to Rey, his face heating up. “Do you think they still want me?”

She looked out to sea for a moment, tears suddenly welling in her eyes. “I don’t know, but it would be a disgrace if they didn’t want you, Finn. You’re amazing.”

Finn leaned in closer to her as Rey continued to speak. “I know my situation was different, and my parents thought I was dead. I know they wanted me. But Force, if your parents don’t want you, Papa and Dad already consider you like a son of theirs, and so does the General and Han. It sounds ridiculous coming from a Skywalker, but family is not blood.”

Finn chuckled. “Thank you, that means a lot to me.” He dug into a pocket of Poe’s jacket and pulled out an orange disc covered with crinkling plastic. “They had sweets at the mess hall today. I thought you might like some.”

Rey took the candy, tentatively unwrapping it and putting it in her mouth. Her eyes lit up at the sugary taste. She tried to chew it, but couldn’t bite through it, so she resorted to sucking at it like a cough drop. 

“This is delicious, thank you so much, Finn!” The delight in her voice made Finn smile. 

He gulped. “I remembered you saying something about sharing food on Jakku, and how only people in relationships shared food.”

Rey blinked, her face growing hot. “Come with us to Bespin. We can talk about that on the way there, I guess.”

He nodded. “BB-8 told me that the General wanted me to come along anyways, so I guess we’re going to talk about that. Should we talk to Poe about this?”

Rey paused. “He’s going to be in his X-wing. Can we just borrow a set of comms so it can be relatively private?”

“I can get Rose and Paige to lend me some,” Finn said. He stood up off of the rock, turning around to face her. “I’m going to head in and start packing. Do you want to come with me?” He outstretched his hand to help her up.

“Sure,” Rey said, taking his hand and not letting go.

* * *

 

Poe didn’t sleep that night. He knew it was a bad idea before a flight, but this trip was going to be a long one, at least from inside an X-Wing. Two days straight in hyperspace, and Poe groaned at the thought. At least he would have BB-8 with him. 

First thing in the morning, Poe took his day bag and threw it into the storage compartment of Black One. BB-8 was already there, getting raised up into their nook in the fighter. Poe sighed, dreading this particular flight. He caught himself hoping for some action and chastised himself for it. This was another escape from the war, and he didn’t know how many people could get that chance.

He pulled his jumpsuit on over his clothes, zipping and fastening the bright orange and white pieces together. He hadn’t put his helmet on when a figure rushed up to him. He startled before realizing it was only Rey. 

She looked like she hadn’t gotten enough sleep, soft smudges on the delicate skin underneath her eyes, her hair loose and tangled in places. But she seemed excited enough, a smile curling her lips. “Mornin’, Poe. Finn had the idea of giving you this. Two days in hyperspace alone, I mean, you’ll be with BB-8, but it’s a long time on your own. Might help you pass the time.”

Rey pressed a comm into his hand before running back to the Falcon, climbing on board with Finn and Ben. The General was addressing several officers fifty feet away. Poe let BB-8 do preflight checks as he went over to her.

“While myself and Commander Dameron are away, Admiral Holdo will be in charge of the fleet and Admiral Ackbar will be in charge of the Resistance as a whole,” Leia said, every person listening intensely. The Mon Calamari nodded, and the violet haired woman next to him smiled at Leia, bowing her head. She had been Poe’s commander in the Republic army, and there was still something about her that he admired. 

“May the Force be with you,” Leia concluded, and the officers echoed the phrase. She turned to Poe. “Are you ready, Dameron?”

Poe nodded curtly. “Yes ma’am.”

She scowled slightly at the title before noticing something olive green sticking out of the collar of the jumpsuit. “Are you wearing your officer’s uniform under that?” Poe didn’t flinch, keeping his spine straight.

“Yes I am, ma’am.” 

She raised one eyebrow, looking up at him with the “Are you kidding me?” face. Poe cracked. “I’m only wearing it to make it look like we’re a legitimate force, ma’am.”

Leia sighed and put her hand on his shoulder. “Poe, it’s Lando. He’s been a friend of mine for thirty years. He knows how legitimate a force we are. I’ll go make some excuse so you can change out of that.”

Poe knew better not to salute her as she left towards the Falcon, freezing and running off towards the offices. He sighed, and grabbed a shirt and shorts from the inside of his X-Wing. The comm was thrown in the cockpit, after he noticed that it was preset to a frequency that he didn’t recognize. 

He rushed off to change. They wouldn’t be late because of him. He made a mental note to thank Leia when they landed.

* * *

 

It seemed like deja vu to Finn, picking quarters on the Falcon. It felt like only a few weeks had passed since the mission to find Skywalker, and Starkiller, and his defection. They were only an hour into their trip, and the lull of hyperspace was comforting.

He set his bag down in a tiny room down the way from the communal area. The individual bunks had clearly been added on, not part of the original design of the freighter. As Finn thought about it, Han had probably made these rooms himself, for his growing family, his wife and son, brothers in law, and his niece. 

Luke and Wedge had claimed a room already, and because the way that they had moved in had seemed instinctual, it proved Finn’s theory. 

Rey had opted to stay in the communal bunks original to the Falcon with Chewie. It didn’t really surprise him. What surprised Finn the most was his own decision to room on his own. 

His entire life had been spent in shared quarters. The others in his squadron had always been with him, and now he was choosing to be alone. There was some beauty in that, but he didn’t want to see it. 

He didn’t bother unpacking his bag, just throwing it on the bunk before returning to the communal area. Rey, Luke, Leia and Ben were there, Leia and Ben sitting at the dejarik table, Luke rooting through a closet that Finn didn’t know was there. 

Rey stood in the center of the empty space, her lightsaber in her hand. She shifted anxiously where she stood, watching her father as he rummaged. Luke pulled back with a shout of glee. 

“It’s still here!” He seemed genuinely surprised. Finn peered at what he had in his hands. A remote of some sorts was in his metal hand, and an X-Wing helmet in his left hand. “I trained with this when I was first learning.”

He put the remote down on the dejarik table, and handed Rey the helmet. The visor had been closed completely, allowing no visuals. Finn sat down next to the General, and she scooted toward her son to give him some space. 

Rey slipped the helmet on, her loose hair falling out over her shoulders. Luke turned back to the remote, turning it on and mumbling something under his breath. Finn caught “please let this turn on” the string of words, and leaned back against the headrest. 

The remote grumbled to life, hovering in the air harmlessly. Luke put his real hand on Rey’s shoulder, and she startled for a moment. “Reach out with the Force, and you’ll be able to block the remote’s blasts. If you miss, it won’t actually hurt you, it will just sting,” He reassured her.  “Ben can attest to that.” 

Ben groaned at the memory. Rey nodded and ignited the blade with a hiss. Her body sunk down into an instinctual fighting stance that terrified Finn a little bit. 

The remote shot a beam of red light at Rey, and she swung at it with the lightsaber. She missed, but the beam found Rey’s thigh. She hissed, swearing in a language that no one else understood. 

“Don’t really think about blocking the blast with the lightsaber,” Luke advised, his eyes shut with a memory. Finn remembered what he had said about how he had trained with it. 

Rey sunk back down into the fighting stance as the remote hummed to life again. It fired, and Rey was closer, but missed the bolt by millimeters. It caught her in the hip, and she cursed again. 

“Let go of your conscious self,” Luke tried advising again, “And reach out with your feelings. Like the meditating.”

The remote fired again, and this time Rey caught it with the saber. Luke grinned. Rey reached up and ripped the helmet off of her head. “I did it!”

Her chest was heaving softly, power radiating from her. It wasn’t like Luke or Leia’s subtle power, the persuasion and the reverence that rolled off of them. It was closer to Ben’s presence, the raw power. It unnerved Finn sometimes, their similarities. 

Rey threw the helmet back on, blocking two more shots. Luke turned off the remote, setting it back on the dejarik table. He looked up at Finn, and he shied into himself a tiny bit. “Do you want to try, Finn?” Luke asked. 

Finn swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. He stood, taking the lightsaber and the helmet from Rey. 

He reassured himself as he stood up against the remote, once again floating in front of him. He was just as Force sensitive as Rey. Finn let his world go dark with the helmet, and ignited the lightsaber. 

Finn remembered the the advice Luke had given to his daughter. He let go of himself, looking for the remote through the Force. He was convinced that he caught the beam until he felt the stinging pain in his left thigh. 

He tried again, detaching himself from his physical mind. He heard Rey and Leia cheering. He had caught it.

* * *

 

That night, Finn was just ready to turn in for bed when someone knocked at the door. Because he trusted everyone on board, he let them come in, sighing in relief as he realized it was just Rey. 

She had the comm in her hand, and Finn remembered the promise that they had made Poe that morning. He groaned, not because he didn’t want to have this conversation, but because he didn’t know how to have this conversation.

“How ‘bout we just call him and get it over with?” Rey said, her voice soft with sleepiness. She sat cross legged at the foot of Finn’s bunk, leaning up against the wall. Finn shrugged and followed suit, but at the head of the bed. 

“Yeah,” Finn said, taking a deep breath and pressing the button to call the other comm. 

Poe’s voice rang out immediately. “Rey? You there? Can you hear me?”

“We’re here, and yes we can hear you,” Rey replied. 

“We?” 

“I’m here too,” Finn said, shifting on the bed. 

Poe’s voice immediately brightened. “Hey, buddy! What did you guys want to talk about? You gave me the comm before you left. It’s clearly an unique one, and you have the pair.”

“Finn and I started talking about the idea of our relationship before we left,” Rey said. Finn felt his face flush. She could be so blunt sometimes, and it made Finn just shy of uncomfortable. 

Poe sputtered over the comm. “Okay, then. How do we want to continue with this?”

Rey and Finn looked at each other. “I don’t really know how a romantic relationship actually works, Poe, and I don’t think Finn knows either. That’s kind of why we’re having this talk,” Rey said, running a hand through her loose hair. 

There was silence on the other end, and Finn and Rey looked at each other in confusion. Poe sighed, his breath crackling through the speaker. “The way it’s always worked, at least for me, is that both or all of the parties involved are open and communicating with each other. People want to be in relationships with people who they feel safe feeling vulnerable around.”

Rey looked at Finn. The first time she had admitting to feeling vulnerable was with him and Poe. The pilot continued speaking. “Being in a relationship doesn’t have to be physically intimate, it just has to be emotionally intimate, and it’s an open ended negotiation. Does that make sense?”

Finn blinked. “It does.”

“I want to try being in a relationship with the two of you,” Rey said suddenly, meeting Finn’s eyes. “I mean we’ve all gotten along fantastically since we’ve met, and I think we can work this out.”

Finn smiled at her, the bashful look in his eye making her heart feel funny. “I agree.”

Poe sighed again, probably running his hand through his hair. The mental image made Finn swoon internally. “I guess we’re going to try this out then.”

* * *

Twelve hours later, the ship arrived in Bespin’s atmosphere. Rey planted herself in the cockpit next to her uncle, fascinated by the swirling clouds of the gas giant. Luke and Finn were training with the lightsaber in the commons, and Rey could hear the almost comforting snap-hiss of the blade against the bolts from the remote. 

The Falcon’s comm beeped, startling Rey who jumped in her seat. Ben and the rest of them were in the hold watching Artoo and Chewie play a tense game of dejarek. Han reached in front of him and opened the call. 

A hologram of a young human woman shot up from the control panel, overwhelming the cockpit with her elegance and confidence. She smiled, leaning forward in a loose bow, the dark braids in her hair tied up into an elegant updo. “Greetings and welcome to Cloud City,” She greeted. Her teeth were bright against her dark skin. Rey thought she looked familiar. “My name is Mara Calrissian, and I am the administrator of this facility. Please provide identification.”

Her voice was rich and deep, and she gestured with her hands as she spoke, shifting the powder blue suit jacket she wore draped over her shoulders. 

Han pressed a button, leaning in to a microphone that Rey didn’t know was there. “This is the Millenium Falcon and Black One of the Resistance, requesting access to land.”

The woman gasped, surprise and joy lighting up her eyes. “Uncle Han? So good to see you! You’re with the Resistance now?”

Han smirked, even though she couldn’t see him. “Yup. It’s a family affair now,” He quipped.

“I’ll get Pops and Jaina, and we’ll meet you at landing bay 79, alright? I’ll get your accompaniment a landing bay as well.” Mara said. 

“We’ll see you there, Mara.”

The hologram disappeared, and Rey turned to her uncle, looking for explanation. “That’s Lando’s daughter, right?”

He nodded. “Mara and Jaina are his twins. If we’re lucky, Adowa will be here as well. She’s Lando’s wife, and a good friend of Luke.”

Rey leaned forward and stared out towards the city. Han realized with a start that she hadn’t seen a city like this in a very long time. He had that same heavy feeling when she had first seen Takodana. 

The Falcon landed gently, the landing gears settling with a hiss of gas, and Han felt an overwhelming surge of deja vu. But this time he knew for certain that the people here wouldn’t sell him out. 

They all gathered in the common area, Han wrapping his arm around his wife. Luke held Wedge’s hand tight. Finn saw this and reached out to take Rey’s hand. She looked up at him, and let his giant hand wrap around her tiny, nimble fingers

Han, Chewie, and Leia led the descent down the Falcon’s opening ramp.  Cloud City was magnificent, and even more so close up. A set of doors leading inside slid open, and an entourage of people walked out. 

The woman from the hologram, Mara, was there, and another young woman, who had to be her twin Jaina. She looked identical to her sister, but she wore her hair cropped short, the tight curls barely brushing past her ears. The dress she wore, soft pink fabric billowing to the ground, was a sharp contrast to her sister’s bright blue. 

And with them was an older couple, a man with greying hair, General Calrissian, and a woman who must have been Adowa. Her daughters looked just like her, but her hair was shiny straight, and she seemed more casual than the rest of the group. 

Mara jogged towards the newcomers. “Auntie Leia! Uncle Han!”

Leia grinned as the young woman embraced her in a tight hug. “It’s good to see you, Mara. I’m glad to see that you and your family are alright.”

Mara laughed as her father and Han hugged each other tight. Lando then called out to Chewie, and they too embraced. Adowa shook Wedge’s hand. Jaina laughed with her pseudo-aunt, and Mara moved towards Rey. 

“And who might we have here?” She smirked, offering a hand for Rey to take. She did take it, thinking that the woman wanted to shake her hand. Mara instead pressed a feather light kiss to Rey’s knuckles, and Rey blushed furiously. 

“I’m Rey,” She sputtered, and Mara laughed, rich and golden. 

“Well hello, Rey, my name is Mara Calrissian, and I’m the administrator of this facility,” She introduced herself again, but this time there was honey in her voice. 

Rey glanced at her feet as Mara let go of her hand. “I know. I was in the cockpit when we made contact.”

Mara laughed again. “I’m sorry, I am awful at flirting.”

“No, not really,” Rey flushed harder, and laughed with the other woman. 

Lando had moved from Chewie to Luke. “You’re back?” Luke shrugged.

“I got dragged out of hiding,” Luke laughed as Lando dragged him into another embrace, clapping his friend on the back. 

“You scoundrel, you know how much grief you caused your family?” 

Luke sighed into Lando’s shoulder. “I do. They told me. But speaking of family,” He pulled away from his old friend and gestured at Rey, who was watching intently. Finn, who had gotten a weird feeling, had let go of her hand. “Somehow my daughter survived.”

“Rey survived?” Lando said, surprise written across his face. When she heard her name, Rey looked up and waved bashfully. 

“She did,” he said, in almost disbelief. “She really did.”

Mara noticed the outlier, the young man who stood apart and looked at his feet as she flirted with Rey. “Hey, mister, I don’t bite. What’s your name?”

Finn jerked to attention at the sound of her voice. And as the two made eye contact, Finn almost swore. He was looking into his own eyes. Suddenly, he remembered Maz Kanata’s voice.  _ If you live long enough, you see the same eyes in different people.  _

Mara didn’t know who he was. He hadn’t said anything yet, but Mara knew that she knew him, somehow. “Mama? Pops? Please tell me I’m not seeing things.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have literally never been in an actual relationship let alone a polyamorous one. Also this chapter got long, like a thousand words over my average, so whoops.
> 
> also #LetReyEnjoyCandy

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr at starwarsforthegays


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